Full text of "Shafer Court connections"

FOR ALUMNI OF
THE ACADEMIC
CAMPUS OF
VIRiSINIA
COMMONWEALTH
' UNIVERSITY

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"WIMTER 1996

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TO SEftVE

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USE YOUR CONNECTIONS

TO YOUR CREDIT

The VCUAA offers its alumni
a VISA card which carries the
VCU marl; — and a high value.
Your Alumni Association
benefits with every
purchase you
make.

For
infor-mation or

sign-up, call (800) 359-
3862.

CALLING CARD

On the road again? Phone
home (or anywhere)
conveniently and
economically through the
VCUAA long distance calling
program. For information or
sign-up, call (800) SERVICE.

UNIVERSITY VIEWS

Warm a wall in your home or
office with a Parks Duffy
watercolor print of historical
sites on both campuses. $25
unsigned, $50 signed. Add
$2.50 for shipping, or pick up
at VCU Alumni House, 3 1
North Shafer Street in
Richmond.

CIRCLE OF ACHIEVEMENT

Lose your class ring, or never
got one when you were on
campus? It's not too late to
celebrate your achievements
and connections at VCU.
Rings come in five styles for
women and four styles for
men in lOK, 14Korl8K
yellow or white gold. Prices
from $195-$233 for women's
rings and from $240-$489 for
men's. Installment payment
available. For a color brochure
with complete ordering
information, call (800)
424-1492.

ENGINEERING

EDUCATION

MEDICINE

WARM MEMORIES

Snuggle up under this coverlet with drawings of
historic buildings from both campuses. Offered only
through VCUAA. Proceeds directly benefit the Alumni
Association Scholarship Endowment. Corporate orders
are welcome. Cream and black, 50" x 67", $49 each.

TO YOUR HEALTH

VCUAA offers its alumni a
comprehensive package of
group plans that can help with
short-term emergencies or
long-term needs. Gradmed
short-term (60-180 days) can
fiU the gap between
graduation and employee
benefits or be the safety net
during emergency loss of
protection. Term Life is
offered for nine months free
to new graduates and as a paid
policy to all alumni. For
information or sign-up for
short-term, term life or major
medical plans, call (800) 922-
1245.

IN THE RUNNING

Hit the fast track or do the
stroU in these premium
quality sports shoes for men
and women. The white shoe
with black and gold VCU Ram
logo looks great, feels better,
and supports your VCU
Alumni Association. $49.95
plus applicable sales tax,

$5 shipping per

pair. Allow

2-3 weeks

delivery.

To order,

• caU

(800)
666-7852

PERFECT TIMING

Remember your times at RPI
and VCU. Watches by Seiko
feature the university seal in
14k gold and a calfskin strap
or gold-toned bracelet. A great
gift. Men's or Women's with
leather strap $207.50 each;
Men's or Women's bracelet
$272.50 each, including
shipping. Payment plan
available. To order, call (804)
523-0124.

VCU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Alumni As.sociali on Officers

Kennelh Magill '65BS/B '69MS/E

Prcsitlciil

Claire Collins •84MPA/H8(S

I'n-sulmrlilttl

James Hoihrock '78MS/AH(R(:)
Secretary

Robert Henley '71BS/B

Trcitsiircr

Peggy Adams '87BGS/NTS

Piut President

Ch.iirs of School Alumni Boards

Ian R. Parrish '89MSW/SW

School ofSodat Work

Faye |. Greene '89MIS/NTS
Nontrtulitiotuil Stiulies Prof^raiu

Thomas L Mountcastle '75AS '81BS/B

School ofBiiiiticss

Stephanie Holt '74BS/E

School of Education

Board of Directors

Terw Evpin'n^ '%

BethAyers'91MS/E

Kathleen Barrett '71 BS 73MS/B

Sharon Bryant '83MEd ■95PhD/E

Donald Dodson '64BS/B

Richard Leatherman '79BGS/NTS •82MEd '87PhD/E

Term Expiring '97

Sally Bowring '83MFA/A

Gaye|ones'90BSW/SW

HughKeogh'81MS/MC

Milton Kusterer '67BS/H8<S

Marsha Shuler 74BS 79MAyB

Term Expiring '%

Jack Amos '68BFAyA

Frederick Facka '92MS/B

EUy Burden GiU 79BS •91M£d/E

Linda Vines '82MSW/SW

rj O N N

T J o r}

' n

Three alumni spruce up a fourth — the Mosque.

nAKi'iiF[)iii.\i..\lriiii.iy

Style and substance: Haw to build a great art school.
Our Alumni Stars shine in a soft Egyptian night.

M.O.s vary, but all our alumni in police work are a force for good.

There are ei^ht million stories in the naked city.

Dr. Rob Rosenbaum '93MD/M and pilot Scott O'Grady never say die.

DEPARTMENTS

POBOX843044 2

FROMTHEPRESIDENT 3

CAMPUSCURRENTS 4

HEADOFTHECLASS 21

VOL. 2. NO. 2
WINTER 1996

Staff

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Sh^er Court ConnaMmis
a magazuie for alumni and
friends of ibe .Academic
Campus of \'irginia
Commonwealth
Univ^ersity in Richmond.
VCU is a public uri»n
uni^'ersit\' witfa an enroS-
ment of 21.000 students
on the Academic and
Medical CoOege of
\Tipnia Campuses. The
magazine is published two
or three limes a >ear br
VCL' .Alumni .Acthi'Tties.

Cop>TiaJit r ■096bv

Vitginii

L'ni\'en;:^

A/JiV(iM .\mcrkim .Miimni Council
Marilyn M. Campbell '81 BS/MC

VCMM Prt-ii.feiil's Appointees

John Cook

Richard Nelson '63BS/B

Joan Reringer '86BGS/NTS

A L U M NET

POSTGRAD 25

POSTGRAD 28

COVER ILLUSTRATION B > CHAD CAMERON 94BFA/A

veil

Wgna Co

Got the latest issue o{Shafer
Court Connections and thought
the article on integration was ver)'
good. You're doing an excellent
job with the magazine.
GraceLessner'81BS/MC

I just received Shafer Court, it's a
really good issue. But what does
the asterisk mean before alumni
in AlumNet?
Teresa Dogherty

*Members of the VCU Alumni
Association — sorry, we lost the
explanation.

I just received my summer
edition — like a letter from home.
Thanks too for covering the
RPI Reunion. Here is a
sketch of Founders

Hall I did during the reunion.

Keep up your splendid work
and thanks for the memories.
Jean Light Willis '6 IBFA/A

My thanks for the article about
my work by Jean Huets '80BA/
H&S in the summer issue ("Circle
of Life"). She certainly did a good
job, especially as we had not met
face to face.

1 enjoyed seeeing pictures of
some old friends of the William
and Mary Extension days: Loise
Lanhorne Easley, Frances
Holtzclaw Stebbins, LaUa
Wherry PearsaU.

I learned a lot about VCU.
You have a very professional
magazine.
Ann Cottrell Free 1934-36

I want the entire Shafer Court staff
to know we appreciate your good
(hard) work. My husband, a UR
grad, has always received sharp
and thorough publications. UR
can't touch us now!

VCU just clicked with me,
especially as an older student.
And now my husband is getting
his MBA at VCU.
Kay Adams '94BS/H&S

I like so much what you've been
doing with the magazine.

The cover story on integration
at RPI and VCU was impressive.
It's not every school that would
focus on that part of its past.
But you met it head on — that's
so VCU!
Laura Cameron '83BS/MC

Thank you for sharing your cover
story on integration. It reminds
me that things really aren't as
awful as they used to be — and
haven't improved as much as they
should have, either. Historically
it's a good persective on RPI and
VCU for someone unfamiliar
with it; this truly is an interesting
university.
Florence Johnson

I would like a couple of copies of
your excellent Shafer Court
Connections magazine for a
couple of special people in there
that I would like to distribute this
to. You did a beautiful job with
the cover story. Excellent job.
Dr. Francis Foster

Thank you for sending me copies
of the Sumer 1995 issue of Shafer
Court Connections. I am pleased
that the article on the integration
of Richmond Professional
Institute and Virginia
Commonwealth University
turned out so well.
Dr. Grace Harris '60MSW/SW

Dr. Harris had a couple of correc-
tions to our timeline in the cover
story: In 1951 the first five black
fiill-time graduate students were
admitted to the School of Social
Work: Hilda Warden, Joe Obey,

Loma Green, Rose Robinson and
Antoinette Hudson. In l%7, the
first three full-time black faculty
members hired were Dr. Grace
Harris in the School of Social
Work, Dr. Rizpah Welch in the
School of Education and Regenia
Perry in the School of the Arts.

"This Was My Time" brought
back many memories of my days
at RPI, 1947-50. 1 was active in
the interracial Richmond
Intercollegiate Council and
worked closely with students
from other local colleges. Our
faculty mentors were RPI's Dr.
Alice Davis and Rev. Samuel
Candy, chaplain at Virginia State
University.

When Paul Robeson gave a
concert at the segregated Mosque,
I was president of the RIC. We
decided to attend as a group, with
Dr. Davis as our leader. When we
started to go up the stairs to the
balcony, the guard said, "Upstairs
is for colored." Very calmly, as
was her style, Dr. Davis respond-
ed, "We all have colored blood."
We went to the balcony and thor-
oughly enjoyed the performance.
Dr. David Jeffreys '48BS
'50MS/SW

Reading "This Was My Time" in
the summer issue was fantastic for
me. I had no idea that RPI had
admitted Hilda Warden as a
student the year after I graduated.
I was an active member of the
Richmond Intercollegiate Council
for two or three years. The experi-
ence was was both very rewarding
and very frustrating. After a year
of meetings, my group from the
council sent out questionaires and
survey cards to RPI students
asking whether they would
approve, disapprove, or were
undecided about having Negroes
in class or attending special
meetings and institutes with
Negro students within the School
of Social Work. Council members
from RPI were called into Dr.
Hibbs' office and told I ) leave the
college or 2) quit doing the
surveys.

Students at RPI were receptive
to integration. I'm not sure that
parents of these students were too
pleased with the prospect, and I
think Dr. Hibbs had already
heard from a few of them. This
was the last semester of my senior
year. I chose to graduate.

The council also worked
toward an integrated church
service. This failed as well. The
pastor of the church at the last
moment had the black students
ushered to the balcony.

Forty-six years later, I realize
that our committee perhaps did
some good after all.
Joy Mathis Post '49BS/H&S
Homer, Alaska

I received, with great enthusiasm,
your Summer 1995 issue. It
brought back cherished memories
of grand old times at RPI- VCU.
My 35 years spent there left me
with a great sense of fulfillment.
Thank you for highlighting
the young men on the 1956-57
Green Devils basketball team and
our visit to Reunion 1995.
Coach Ed Allen

The sec issue was great all
around. I am honored to be in it
with all my friends and the others.
Yes, I would like more copies. Are
10 too greedy? If so, send me what
you can.
Ed Peeples '57BS/E

Please write us at
VCUAlumni Association
P.O. Box S43044
Richmond, VA 23284-3044.

Send email to
VCU-ALUM&vcu.edu;
VCUAA's internet homepage is
coming soon.

Or call

(804) VCU-ALUM (828-2586).

"If you're looking for any of the gang, and they aren't at school,
chances are you'll find them here." — TIte Wigwant yearbook,
1955. Not in the know? Check page 32.

SH.\FER COURT CONNECTIONS

Partnership Packs a Punch. The

Greater Richmond Partnership's
November reception in New York
inchided Gregory Wingfield '75BS
'76MURP/H&S, the partnership's
executive director: Phyllis Cothran
'71BS/B, president and CEO of
Trigon insurance; VCU sculptor
Elizabeth King: and VCU's
President Eugene P. Trani. VCU is
a major player in Richmotni's
public/private economic partner-
ship. Members were in New York
for the Virginia Chamber of
Commerce's Report to Top
Management, an annual event
to market Virginia.

Several of King's sculptures
(center, above) were on view at the
Alan Stone Gallery for the recep-
tion, and she has also been chosen
to exhibit pieces at the '96 Summer
Olympics in Atlanta.

Virginia Commonwealth Universit/s legislative priorities for the 1 9% session of the General
Assembly target major projects important to the econcjmy and quality of life of Virginia. Purwling
for these projects als<^) supports "A Strategic Plan for the Future of Virginia OjmmonweaJth
University."

• Governor Allen has included $ 1 .5 million in operating funds for the SchtxJ of Engineering in
his budget submission for 1996-98. We are raising more than S23 million in private funds to
establish a world-class school. Underlining its importance is the decision of Motorola, Inc to
build in Virginia, in part because of incentives tied to VCU's school

• State general funds currendy provide less than 30 percent of the average annual cost to educate
each medical student at VCU's School of Medicine and the University of Virginia. More than

half of VCU's medical education revenues come from subsidies
from MCV Hospitals and physician-faculty income. We
predict an 18 to 25 percent decline in these subsidies as a result
of new market forces in health care and anticipated reductions
in Medicare and Medicaid funding. Therefore, we are asking
for an additional $6.7 million per year in 1996-98. These funds
would bring the state's share of the cost of medical education to
43 percent.

It is essential that MCV Hospitals receive greater flexibility to

operate in the rapidly changing health-care market \Ve vviD be
asking legislators to create a governmental authorit)' to manage
MCV Hospitals. Such an entit)' would free .MCVTi from state
regulations, which currendy inhibit its competiti%eness in per-
sonnel issues, purchasing and capital projects. .\IC\' Hospitals
would still be part of state government, maintaining its eligjbili-
t)' for funding for medical education and indigent care.

• VCU also is requesting $750,000 over the course of the biennium to help the School of
Pharmacy launch the Doctor of Pharmacy program. This new program is part of the
University's strategic plan and replaces the baccalaureate degree. For the School of Dentistry,
we are asking for $250,000 to continue critically needed general-fund support for the
Commonwealth's only dental school and one of the highest ranked dental schools in the
nation.

• VCU is requesting $20 million in general fund support for its information technolog\- plan.
This crucial piece of VCU's strategic planning emisions major changes in supporting both our

academic and administrative goals.

• Compensation for faculty' and staff is again a state-wide issue, and we are joining our col-
leagues at Virginia's colleges and unix'ersities in making the case for performance-based pay
increases. The continuing risk that we face in Virginia is the loss of \'aluable, excellent fecuh)'
and staff to better paying positions in and outside higher education.

VCU counts on you, our alumni, to help us educate public opinion about the needs and
benefits of higher education and to support these needs \\ith your representatives. In March, we
will know the outcome of our legislative priorities, and you will be updated later on the budget
outlook for VCU during the 1996-98 biennium.

EUGENE P. TRANI
PRESIDENT

SUMMER 1995

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FINE BUILDING

The new Fine Arts Center is
coming off the drawing board and
onto campus. VCU's Board of
Visitors approved the building's
design this fail. Plans will absorb
the existing Department of Crafts
building at the corner of Main
and Belvidere into a structure that
will nearly triple its size to
1 50,000 square feet. The new
building wiU consolidate the
Departments of Crafts and
Painting and Printmaking and
will be the new headquarters of
VCU's School of the Arts as well
as the new home of the Anderson
Gallery — all of them currently
scattered around campus.

As for the design of the new
structure, Edwin Blanks, associate
provost for academic affairs, says
it was created "from the inside
out. Form follows function."
Features of the new structure
include lots of windows to bring
natural light into the building,
and studios that cater to the needs
of specific disciplines. The project
is slated for completion by
fall 1998.

NUMBERS UP

VCU's research grant and con-
tracts for the fiscal year 1995
reached a record $83 million fol-
lowing a total for 1994 of $81.9
million. Private gifts this year
totaled just under last year's
record $25 million.

VCU also reports more
freshman enrolled for 1994-95 —
and more students accepted to
VCU's Honors Program. "More
people are attending college," says
Dr. Grace Harris, provost and
vice president for academic
affairs. "We see this as a turning

point in increasing the number of
full-time, degree-seeking
students." Harris adds that the
100-student rise in the Honors
Program testifies to the rising
caliber of students attracted to
both VCU campuses. The
program now supports 1,020
undergraduates.

Numbers are up for alumni
support as well. Alumni gifts and
pledges for the university in 1995
totalled more than $3 million, up
82 percent since 1993. The VCU
Alumni Association drew 700 new
members, with 350 new members
at the MCV Alumni Association.

Welcome back — and thanks.

INTO THE
STRATOSPHERE

VCU's new engineering school
welcomed its first professor at the
turn of the year. Nationally recog-
nized researcher and former UVA
professor of Engineering and
Applied Science Dr. Robert
Mattauch was chosen from 1400
applicants from across the
country. Mattauch was interested
in the VCU appointment because,
"Very rarely do you have the
opportunity to create a program
from the ground up, carefully
selecting the elements that will
ensure your success."

Mattauch's has been studying
100 GHz wave range devices, and
some of his research has been
applied to semiconductors for use
in radio astronomy. His research
also led to the world's first effort
to measure the concentration of
chlorine monoxide in the stratos-
phere. At VCU, his research will
be applied to the Engineering
School's focus on manufacturing,
particularly in its relationship

with Motorola, Inc., which is
building a new plant in
Goochland.

NEW RECTOR AND
BOARD MEMBERS

In May the Board of Visitors
elected Stuart C. Seigel the new
rector of VCU. Seigel is the CEO
of S8cK Famous Brands and the
major donor and co-chairman of
fundraising for the Stuart C.
Seigel Convocation and
Recreation Center planned for the
academic campus.

Four new members have been
named to VCU's Board of
Visitors by Governor George
Allen: Dr. George White Jr.

'62MD/M an orthopedic surgeon
with Winchester Orthopedic
Associates in Winchester and
counselor of the 7th district with
the Medical Society of Virginia;
William DeRusha '76BS/B
chairman and CEO of Heilig-
Meyers Company — 1987
Alumnus of the Year, 1993 Wayne
Medal; Steven Markel, vice
chairman of Markel Corporation
and a member of the VCU School
of Business Council; and Diane
Linen Powell, vice president of
public relations of International
Family Entertainment and
chairman of Des Plaines
Publishing.

AD VANTAGE

when the VCU Ad Center opens
in fall 1996, it will be the only
graduate school of advertising in
the U.S. that puts students
straight to work in the advertising
community the first day of class.
"The idea is to create a seamless
educational experience," says
Diane Cook-Tench, Ad Center
director. "Students will begin
shaping themselves for the real
world immediately upon starting
our master's program."

BONDS OF AFFECTION

"It's not enough to teach. One must give the reason
for learning," said Maurice Bonds '40BFA/A, artist
and VCU professor emeritus of art history, who died
November 30 in Richmond, at 77. "He was a
remarkable person, " says Bruce Koplin '61BFA
'63MFA/A, chairman of VCU's art history depart-
ment and a former student of Bonds. In his 32 years
at RPI and VCU, Bonds nurtured generarions of
creative, professional artists and articulate teachers,
and they speak of him with strong respect and awed affection.

"He inspired," says Richard Kevorkian, artist and VCU professor
emeritus. "He told me once 'Kevorkian, sometimes if you tell someone
often enough that he's a genius, he will be.'" Bonds even bought paints for
a student in a financial bind. Artist Willie Anne Wright '64MFA/A and
her classmates, "adored him. We worked so hard to get an A from him."
She got her MFA because of Bonds. "He made me feel I could do
anything."

And Bonds "did everything," Wright says. He was chairman, first of
RPI's Fine Arts Department — made up of sculpture, painting and print-
making, and art history — and then as the school grew, chairman of art
history. "He was the one being who held that place together, for the art
students," says Tom Waters '61BFA '63MFA, now an art history
chairman himself. "OF Mo knew the answers." Koplin marvels, "It's
amazing what he was able to accomplish with limited funds. RPI was a
special place."

SHAFER COURT CONNECTIONS

Cook-
'lench is a
veteran of
I he ad world
,irul winner
ol nearly
one hundred
awards lor
her work.
She joined
VCU in lale
1991 as an associate professor of
communications. She developed
the Ad Center in cooperation
with industry and academic
leaders and thinks the result is a
one-of-a-kind program that fully
integrates the creative and
business sides of the industry.
Students will choose tracks in art
direction, copywriting or account
management and work in teams
to develop work for agencies.

Professionals in Richmond
and around the country have
agreed to offer internships to Ad
Center students and to come to
campus. "These students will be
working for more than just a
grade," Cook-Tench says.
"They're like the farm team for
many of these agencies."

lorts

KEEPING
PROMISES

I'liS lijs docuniented the e
of VCU and three other
Richmond colleges to change the
future for local elementary
students. "The Carver Promise"
aired in Richmond October 1 1
and may be picked up by the
network. "The Promise" guaran-
tees Carver tiementary's inner
city third-graders a college educa-
tion and financial a,ssistance if
they meet college requirements
when they reach the university
level. VCU President Eugene
Trani says VCU is committed to
the project which he hopes will
teach students ^^^^^^^^
and their
families the
value of higher
education.

To give Carver's
kids a solid start,
students from VCU, the
University of Richmond
VUU and ). Sargent
Reynolds are tutoring
them. "All of these boys and
girls throughout their lives
have had broken promises,"
Principal George Crockett says

^CARV[R

Kevorkian says,"As chairman, Maurice carved a place for his facult)'
where they worked best — and then he didn't meddle. He was not focused
on simply his own work; he always saw things whole." Bonds began the
student Fine Arts Club, and auctioned student art to stretch funds.

The brilliant, witty lectures, the auctioneering and student support
were "not in the least ostentatious," says Waters. Bonds was a man of
quiet, pervasive dignity. "It took time to know how powerful he was, to
realize his wealth of knowledge." Wright adds that "he was a good artist
himself His paintings were lively and witty."

Bonds' influence still echoes throughout the lives of his students.
"Maurice Bonds opened a door for me that enriched every way 1 perceive
art," says Robertson Langley Wood '49BS/H&S. Wright remembers an
alumni tour in Europe, where another alumna suddenly said in Rome, "I
can hear his voice speaking about this — can't you hear Mr. Bonds now?"
Please send memorial gifts to the Maurice Bonds Scholarship in Art History,
P.O. Box 842519. Richmond, VA 23284-2519.

BUILDER, DONOR, BUSINESSMAN

E. Claiborne Robins '33BS/P, a Richmond pharmaceutical manufacturer
and longtime contributor to the university, died luly b, 1995 at the age of
84. Claiborne was a strong supporter of VCU's new School of Engineering
and contributed $500,000 toward the school. He had also donated $2
million in 1973 for the construction of the School of Pharmacy building
on the medical campus.

"Claiborne was a remarkable human being," said President Eugene
Trani, "His impact on this communiU' will be felt for generations to
come. He will be missed."

in the film. "After awhik it
becomes a way of life. We mus'

offer them a start and an end.'

SEEING IN BLACK
AND WHITE

VCU Professors |ohn Mocscr and
Christopher Silver have published
Separate City, a book that makes
some astute observations about
the cohesivcncss of the Souths
black population in the years ol
.segregation. The authors, both
white, focus on Richmond,
Atlanta and Memphis, from
1940-48.

"Anytime you have white
folks making observations about
the black communi-
ty in a book like this,
it's bound to
attract heat,"
ii^ ■ says Dr. Avon
f/tf Drake, outspoken
black VCU professor
of African American
studies. "But as far as the
basic empirical obsen'ations
the book makes, my observa-
tions fall in line with theirs."
Moeser and Silver believe that
°as society opened to the black
; community after the civil rights
= movement, blacks stopped relying
;; so much on their own communal
J bond as they were once forced to
; do. As some blacks acquired
I wealth, they left cities for suburbs,
> and ties broke down further.
"■ "Such strong ties were formed
almost primally, as a means ot
sun'ival," Drake agrees. "The
black commimity was stronger
when the professional and
business classes lived in closer
proximity to the working class
and the poor."

Some might argue that the
struggle for equality is still as
great, though the authors don't
necessarily think so. The separa-
tion and widening gap bet\veen
well-off and poor does mean that
now blacks and \vhites have "radi-
cally different perceptions of
reality." Moeser and Silver believe
that interracial harmony is
possible onlv through communi-
cation — which, they say, rarelv
takes place in Richmond.

MOVIETONE NEWS

President Eugene Trani and
Presidential Aide Charlie
Sheen took a break last
summer from the fight for
I higher education. Sheen and
I Linda Hamilton were on
I campus shooting The
' Shadow Conspiracy. In the
film to be released this
I spring. Sheen plays an aide
I to the president — of die
I United States.
' Among campus coming
attractions is a film about the
I first woman Navy SEAL —
I working tide, G.I. Jane.
I The advance team was
' scouting campus locations
in December for die film
, starring Demi Moore and
I directed by Blade Runner's
' Ridley Scott Cutting ed^
' movie-maldng ri^t here
' at VCU.

I PHOTO BY ERIC NORBOM.
I MEDIA PRODUCTION

• services. VCU.

K
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SUMMER

9
9

Me, Preston, Age 6, Watercolor
Painting, IS" x24"

WINDOW WITHIN

Drawing From Within, the new
1996 Engagement calendar
created by the Virginia Treatment
Center for Children features
artwork created by kids with
emotional, behavioral and mental
disabilities, who are patients at
MCV Hospital. Therapy for these
children comes through music,
recreation and art, and often
provides an intriguing window
into who they really are.

Calendar proceeds help
support arts at the center and
help fund research programs at
the Commonwealth Institute for
Child and Family Studies. You
can see the children's work at
MCV Hospital until February 10.
Or order the calendar from the
Commonwealth Institute at (804)
828-4393.

SHIFT CHANGES

Reorganize, consolidate, sharpen
our focus. A number of recent
changes will help VCU do that.

Dr. Alvin Schexnider (below),
vice provost for undergraduate
studies and associate vice presi-
dent for

academic affairs,
left VCU in
lanuary to
become chan-
cellor of
Winston-Salem
State University,
a historically
black college in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina. Schexnider has
held several administrative posts
at VCU since 1987 and has served
on the state Board of Education.

Schexnider's position has
been changed to vice provost for
academic aftairs — consolidating
undergraduate studies, academic
planning and regulations, and
faculty development. Dr. David
Hiley is interim vice provost while
a national search is conducted
this spring, while he also contin-
ues as dean of humanities and
sciences.

University Enrollment
Services functions have been reor-
ganized for a stronger focus on
marketing, with recruitment
responsibilities under the vice
provost for community and inter-
national programs. Enrollment
planning is under the vice provost

A Healthy Start. The Virginia Biotechnology Center opened January 17. The
city, counties, state, and university partners played their cards right and drew
a full house for the first completed building in the Virginia Biotechnology
Research Park, adjacent to the MCV Campus. Smiling tenants range from
German-based pharmaceutical giant BI Chemicals to startup
companies which provide de\'elopment, sen'ices and technology
in drug design, blood analysis, immunoto,\ology assessment
and disease management.

for academic affairs; and admis-
sions processing, records, regis-
tration and financial aid are
under the vice provost for student
affairs.

Looking outward, the Board
of Visitors approved Donald
Gehring (right)
in November as
vice president
for external
relations.
Gehring,
formerly assis-
tant to President
Eugene Trani
for government and community
relations, has added VCU's media
and public relations arm to his
responsibilities. "The Office of
News Services is a strong opera-
tion and I look forward to
bringing it under the umbrella of
external affairs," said Gehring.
"We've been a successful institu-
tion externally, and I plan to
continue that pattern."

SWISH SWITCH

There's a new coach of the
women's hoops team, 25-year-old
Peggy Sells (below), a young but
successful star both on the court
and the sidelines. Since her
coUege days, every team she has
played for or
coached has
won 20 or more
games and
appeared in the
NCAA playoft's.
Sells promotes
strong defensive
teams that can
hold opponents to 60 points or
less. And she demands similar
results from her players in the
classroom. In her three years a
coach at USC-Spartansburg her
players graduated at a rate of 100
percent. In their first outing, the
VCU women's team beat Morgan
State 79-49.

Sells got a jump start thanks
to previous coach Susan Walvius,

TO BEIJING AND BACK

Among the 30,000 participants in the fourth World Conference on
Women, held in September in Beijing, was a contingent of 60 (mostly
students and others from across the country who footed the bill them-
selves), co-sponsored by VCU's Center for International Programs and
the Women's Studies Program. VCU prepped with summer seminars like
"Women, Health and Healing: A Global Perspective" and "Teaching
Women's Studies" — which political science instructor Deirdre Conduit
also presented in Beijing.

According to women who went, this journey really was a trip. Tents in
the mud, unlikely MacDonald's arches, and "amazing interactions with
women from all over the world — Asian women who'd been slaves since
childhood; Japanese women who couldn't vote." "Women of all cultures
participated in international policymaking," says VCU organizer ludyth
Twigg, a faculty associate with the Center for International Programs. "I
really think we're standing on the threshold of international change."

"It was remarkable," says Cicely Powell '79MEd/E '91MSW/SW. "I
came away with the encouraging sense that the women's movement was
trickling down to younger ages." Powell has since spoken at a Richmond
high school about differences in experience for male and female children
throughout the world. "I feel like I'm already having an impact, sharing
this information with the younger generation."

SHAFER COURT CONNECTIONS

wild lu'lpal prnducc V(^U's most
siiCCcssHil women's baskclliall
program in more ihan two
decades. Walvius left VCU to
coach the women's program at
West Virginia University.

FREE PARKING

No, really! There were .some smug
smiles and broad grins on campus
this fall Irom students who got
lucky. VCU set aside 410 free
parking spaces for commuting
students, at the SCI Lot at
Belvidcre and Broad Streets and
the CV deck at Belvidere and
Main. (Engineers and artists, take
note.) Security guards patrol both
lots.To save the hike to campus,
VCU runs shuttle buses from
these lots to Cabell Library where
students can catch other shuttles

"At the point where we badly need
to restructure social welfare in the
United States, the 104th Congress
is dashing pell-mell into the nine-
teenth century."

Dr. David Stoesz, VCU's Samuel
S. Wurtzel Professor of Social
Work. His work has appeared in
both scholarly and popular journals.

I I

lo the medical campus. I'ark with
avalid VCU Student ID, first
come, first served.

INSIDE STORY

The August issue ol hilcruir
Design magazine held good news
for VCU's Interior Design
Department. When the magazine
polled several dozen program

heads and faculty about top
design programs in the country,
VCU ranked fifth, along with
Cornell University and the
University of Florida. VCU
topped competition from both
coasts — the Fashion Institute of
Technology in Nc-w York and Art
Center College of Design in
Pasadena.

"There's impressive talent in the Dance Department and wonderful leader-
ship from Chris Burnside. We'd definitely like to return."

Clint White '93BS/H&S, manager for the Martha Graham Dance
Company, on campus for master classes. Their leap of faith was November
7 at Carpenter Center.

Not art, but science. Chemistry by
design, an image of dendritic
(spiky) C60 clusters (the white
pools) growing on a graphite
surface. Nearly 200 scientists from
23 countries — in physics, chem-
istry, materials science and
chemical engineering — explored
possible superconducting materials
and other issues in October at the
Symposium on the Science and
Technology of Atomically
Engineered Materials, developed
by VCU's Physics Department and
held every four years. Proceedings
from jena@gems.vcu.edu.

"A philosopher said that ma\-be
it's freedom that makes identical
twins different. It could be
freedom that makes them alike. I
think freedom means something
about the capacit)' of the human
organism not to be pushed
around bv external circum-

Dr. Lindon Eaves, an Anglican
priest and VCU geneticist, in an
article on twins from the New
Yorker, August?. 1995.

Th* Interior 1 -
mcnl began at a rug;.: ^jl.im
called Decorative An Craft in
1930. The program has unce
attracted and graduated tome of
the finest talent in the field v,t.
learn from a stellar faculty.
Professor Buie Harwfx»d, listed in
Who's Who in Interior Design, is
invited to speak all over the
world. With profeswr Paul Peine
,he has been active in national
1 icensing of interior designers.
Professor Craig Marlovr's design
standards for the Army have been
adopted as the criteria for all
Army interiors; his design stan-
dards are used worid-wide.

Watch Shafer Court
Connections for an upcoming
feature on Interior Design
alumni.

"There always seems to be a
debate about appropriate techni-
cal and problem soKing skills that
should be taught in design
school,"

John DeMao. VCU chairman of
commur-iication arts and design.
Hence Zed. the last word in design
journals. v\'tiich tfie department
publishes in both print and CD-
ROM, edited by Assistant
Professor Katie Salen. Zed is
S20 an issue. 815 for alumni, at
Zed. Center for Design. P.O.
Box 842519. Richmond. VA
23284-2519.

1
II

K
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S V M M E R

rtli^^

BY MARY ELLEN MERCER

Who could forget registration at the
Mosque? For nearly 30 years, from the
mid-SLxties until 1994, the line snaked
down the sidewalk outside the building.
Dazed and sweaty (or frozen) students
emerged in the giant ballroom in the
basement, blinking at hundreds of tables
and mUes more lines. With this load of
memories, the buUding itself qualifies as
an alumnus. So it's entirely fitting that
three VCU alumni have contributed new
art to the grand restoration of the 1927
building, thanks to the city of
Richmond's Public Art Program, which
puts 1 percent of construction costs
towards art.

Husband and wife team Rob
Womack 'SIBFA/A and Catherine
Roseberry '78BFA/A (Moiv) worked
nine months on a painted mural at the
entrance to the Grand Tier. "The vision
was Rob's," Catherine says. "I started
thinking about the buUding," he says,
"seeing it as a magic box, a 1920s
Hollywood vision of the exotic Middle
East. The image of the Mosque in the
bubble came first, and the idea of doing a
magician's act." The moment captured is
the magic revealed, the veils lifted and
floating over the magical images,
Catherine explains. Inspiration for "The
Conjuror Revealed" also came from per-
formers they have seen at the Mosque —

Miles Davis, the Chinese Magic Circus,
even Buckminster Fuller — all of them
conjurors of a sort. Objects and figures
float in front of an intricately patterned
golden griU, an eight-point star design
from an Egyptian Mosque.

"1 was also playing with scale," Rob
adds. The great Mosque is inside the
bubble, made tiny. An opera diva sings
inside a gilded cage tied with a ribbon
Uke a toy. An acrobat somersaults over a
protozoan.

In their business. Coloratura,
Womack and Roseberry make paintings
on furniture and work on separate
pieces. Catherine designed a previous
public commission, a mural for
University of Virginia hospital. "It's very
nice to work together, on something so
close to you," she says. Their work has
appeared in national shows and in
American and European art and design
magazines. In 1994, Womack received
fellowships from NEA and the Virginia
Commission for the Arts. And, yes, they
remember registration — "I was amazed
at that ballroom," Catherine says.

Metalworker David Shea '88BFA
'91MFA/A (right) has crafted graceful
griUs for the six ticket windows. An
:, adjunct professor. Shea has worked regis-
i tration from both sides of the table. His
"■ enthusiasm for the buUding dates back to
; student days. "I thought, 'What an
elegant place to have it!'" Shea's bronze
grills nicely return some of that elegance.
Glass medallions set into each window
refer to dance. "The lines swirling in the

background are practical support for the
glass," Shea says. And they suppport the
theme as weM. "I wanted movement, not
a static image." Shea, who has degrees in
painting and in crafts, likes "to combine
the physical nature of metalwork with
drav«ng skills." He has also designed five
gates for the front of the building
(awaiting funding), each grill holding a
glass image of a performing art. "People
should be able to look at the building
and know what goes on here."

Shea has another public commission
on view at Northside Richmond's Fire
Station No. 15, a silhouette of a firefight-
er climbing a ladder. He has shown his
work at invitational shows and gaUerys in
Richmond and Petersburg.

The refurbished building had a gala
opening in October with the magic of
Ray Charles. In deference to Muslim
believers, the building gets a new name
as well. For now it's the Richmond
Landmark Theater untU a benefactor
(magically?) appears to endow and
name it.

Alumni may still feel that the best
trick of all was negotiating Add-Drop
successftilly.

MARY ELLEN MERCER IS THE EDITOR
OF SHAFER COURT CONNECTIONS.

BY LINDA MILLS 'SSMFA/A AND
MARY ELLEII MERCER

There is an .irl to being Murry DePillars,
one of RiLhmond's key cultural figures
for more lliaii 20 years. 'I'liere is, of
course, the pipe that rarely leaves his
hand. There is his impeccable taste in
clothing and the way he carries himself.
And there is the way he left the School of
the Arts in June — as one of the best in
the nation.

DePillars, former dean of the School
of the Arts, has left VCU to go home to
Chicago as executive vice president of
planning and management at Chicago
State University. "It's time to let
someone else ride that horse," DePillars
says of the deanship. But most people
agree vWth Bill Gaines '50BFA/A — who
knew Murry as an arts colleague and as
an adjunct faculty member — that
"Chicago's gain is VCU's loss."

During the 20 years that DePillars was
dean, enrollment grew to 2,400 students
from 1,500, external funding rose to $2
million and endowment funding is now
30 times what it was — $3 million last
year.

Gaines speaks of the school's
"enormous growth," but points out,
"size is not everything. Murry expected a
highly professional staff and students
who aimed for excellence." VCU's presi-
dent. Dr. Eugene Trani, credits DePiQars
for "guiding the School of the Arts to
national prominence in all fields. His
contributions are invaluable."

DePillars demurs, praising "a won-
derful staff. I haven't done a thing except
get out of their way and let them do their
jobs." Maybe. But a theme people repeat
is "accessibility." New York painter
Judith Godwin '53BFA/A says, "He is
open to new ideas. He is always interest-
ed in alumni and their projects — and of
course, in students. He's a delightful
man, very honest, and someone I
respect." With his encouragement,
Godwin established a thriving committee
of arts alumni in New York City. Her
latest project was a show at the Amarillo
Art Museum in November.

When Sally Bowring '83MFA/A had
a show in Chicago a couple of years ago,
"Murn,' really lit up. He was thrilled
because it was in his home towii." As a
student, "whenever I went to him, for

anything, he was always very helpful and
supportive."

"I've been accused of being an
advocate for undergraduate students, "
DePillars says with a sly smile. "But I
look at the large number of our gradu-
ates who are earning a living with their
art. That's success."

The parent who cornered DePillars at
Commencement certainly agrees. She
was thrilled that her son had blossomed
in the School of the Arts, where the
young artist was no longer Nnewed as a
"misfit." Godwin laughs to hear that
story. "We were all misfits at home."
DePillars says, "When it comes to taking
care of students, we all see eye to eye.
That's one of the things I love about our
faculty — they care for the students."

DePillars continues, "The School of
the Arts is an environment where people
can have ideas and other people listen to

the

ART

BEING
MURRY

them. We can be having a major dis-
agreement one moment, then going out
for ajffec the next That's vjmething
some people don't always understand"

Over a long working friendship,
( <aines has been impressed with Murr/s
enthusiastic participation in extended
communities, l(x:ally, rc-gionaJly and
nationally. "A.s a black man and an artist,
Murry had a broader involvc-mcnt than
someone else in his position might have;
beyond being an administrator and
educator, he was active in the arts com-
munity and in the black community."

DePillars is an established pointer, but
his first passion is music — blues and jazz.
He helped establish the Richmond Jazz
Festival to bring musicians like Ellis
Marsalis, Herbie Mann and Dizzy
Gillespie to the campus and the cit>'.

"Growing up in Chicago," DePillars
explains, "1 was in a house where there
was always music, greiv up listening to
the blues and jazz. Muddy Waters li\'ed
down the street. During nap time in
kindergarten, when my teacher left the
room, I would entertain the kids by
singing blues songs."

He thought about a career in music
"but I saw how jazz musicians had to
live. A side of me is conceptual and fluid,
but a side of me is practical" He kept his
day job.

So, what about the new position ?
"It's a job that encompasses the \s-hole
planning process of the universit)'."
DePillars chuckles. "It lets me get into
even-body's business." The femous smile
glo\vs e^'en brighter.

DePillars is already missed by col-
leagues, alumni and friends. .And the
feeling is mutual. He left with st>ie, as
al\\a)"s. He quoted blues singer Joe
Williams —

"I'm goin" to Chicago. Sony, but I
can't take you ..."

Sinc^ DePillars' depamire, Vioituis
DeSmidt, associate' dean of die sdiool is
senimas interim deatu A national search
for a ncn' dean is under way.

LINDA MILLS FINISHED A". , = - ■.
CREATIVE WRITING AT VC„ .'.
DECEMBER. PARTS OF THIS STORY
APPEARED IN VCU VOICE. THE
FACULTY-STAFF NEWSPAPER.

S L" M M E K 19 9 5

Alliea I Icahh Professions

David W. Sin^ley Jr. '85MI LA

Arts

Roterta A Williamson 76MFA

Basic Healtn Sciences

David L Cocliran 77MS '81 DDS '82PliD

Business

Robert ] Grey Jr. 73BS

Dentistry

Anne C. Adams 76MS '80DDS

Eaucation

M. Kennetk Magill '65BS 'bgMS

Humanities ana Sciences
RoLertA.Pratt'80BA

Medicine

Bruce E. Jarrell MD 76HS

Nontraaitional Studies Program

Joseph A. Runt '88BGS •9IMIS

Nursing

Regan L. Crump 78BS

Pharmacy
JolinO.Becl«ier78BS

Social Work

Catkerine E. Nask '85MSW

DAY

a magical hgyptian night of
bron2e ana golur at tneir.recog-
nition dinner November 3.
ineir projessional ana personal

\ ■

contributions to healtn, unaer-
* standing and the beautiful have

made a larger, more generous

-u>or

Id. \^U thanks them

*, their gifts to the university and
to their communibes.

'II

Mm & % ^

■v*

• t lH^L,lL'iiiJi.Li,^i,im.Q

knger so that we face less of it. VCU's criminal justice department has
^3 unde^^ymte majors as well as students from sociology and psychology, and 100
fcdents flBRffiaster's program. Our alumni professionals serve in police and prison
work eve|^^K in Virginia, and in local and federal agencies across the country. As
departmsH^fcman Dr. Jim Hooker says ruefuly, "We're a growth industry."

Their jM^^ptions often go unnoticed. After all, when no one escapes fr-om
prisoner

rememb^fi'SpSCdffi^ffl^sIows down, and doesn't hit a child; wheii a bank's

security policies (adopted from FBI recommendations) prevent embezzlement; or
when a new VCU student, after her security orientatioUj^^^i eye on her
backpack — ^we rarely hear about it. Their best work idlipBHls.

And, it's a career choice that lays a heavy hand on their lives. "To be effective,
poUce officers have to be pretty good at walling off fears," says FBI Case Specialist Eric

Witzig. "Knowing wha
Jthat police iti

"J i i ^ 'J ^j'"i

Mitcheittloesn't like crowds-r
manager Joan Kerr says, "I nd

Every on^ of them has an e
Shaw goes mountain biking, \
agent Carlos Narro heads for t
They don't relax with mysteri<
never found a murder entertai
do to another and begs for sold

These VCU professionals ^
raised by a violent society j

■s rrie^ry cautious" Major James Fox of Henrico
^ ;s into a bank in uniform, because a I
inform during a robbery. Sheriff Michel.
es&^e people to encircle you." Corrections ,
^ ^ack to a door. I can't do it!" , '"

': goes to the river to look at the water. -
iQtography. Mitchell grows orchids, FBI
\err gazes at her pasture full of sheep.
_ia. Witzig speaks for his colleagues: "I've
^nost inhumane thing that one person can

AFER COURT CONNECTION

Carlos Narro

FOLLOWING THE PAPER TRAIL

"The criminals have the advantage — they commit the crime and we are just reacting,"
says FBI Special Agent Carlos Narro '86BS '89MBA/B. Narro investigates white
collar crime — primarily bank fraud — for the FBI l/js Angeles Division. "LA is the
financial institution crime capital of the country," he says. 'ITiat covers credit card,
telemarketing, and real estate loan fraud; stolen and counttTfeit checks embezzk-
ment; ATM crimes; and money laundering.

Narro took his MBA into banking, but his climb up the ajrporate ladder was
short. At a V(>U job fair, he met two Mil agents who "said I had a chance in the
Bureau. It was the ultimate challenge — like s<jmebfjdy saying I could play for the
Yankees." (In fact, he plays for an LA FBI team — "The Unwanted.")

So Narro immediately went into training, running and working out with weights.
Even after he entered the 1 6-week basic training program at Quantiai, Narro's family
and friends didn't believe he would c-ver be an agent. "I was a small guy, and nobody
could picture Carlos carrying a gun." Now, arrests are matter-of-fart for him — it's
testifying at trials that gives him the jitters.

When Narro moved to LA in June, 1991, his mother worried that the job would
change him. "It does change you a little bit, but not for the worse — it makes you more
mature and increases your self-confidence. Sometimes an informant's life is in your
hands. It tests your judgment. I've always liked a new challenge.

"Most white collar criminals leave a paper trail," he continues. Cases are put
together through interviews, and by analraing documents and physical evidence.
"Changes in technology cause changes in crime. Counterfeit checks look more like
real checks; credit cards are easily copied. Computer trails very quickly go cold. We
change to respond. Tm not embarrassed to interview a bank manager and say, I'm
not sure how this procedure works.'"

Narro has a good working relationship with the LAPD, which is involved in about
20 percent of his cases. "Federal law enforcement cannot work effectively without the
help of local law enforcement. They know the streets. Some movies like to make us
look like Big Brother, but we would never walk up to a local police investigation and
say 'step aside.'"

Conscientious and organized, Narro struggles with the fact that he will alw"a%-s be
behind in his work. "There is so much crime and so much case work" .\nother frus-
tration is the light penalties for white collar crime. An embezzler who has stolen
millions of dollars and wiped out the retirement of a number of elderly couples is sen-
tenced to a couple of years — or less.

"We are never going to totally win the war on crime, but we make enough of an
impact to keep it in check. If the public knew how dedicated agents are, the\' would
support law enforcement more."

Internships

VCU's network of crime-fighting alumni
provides opportunities for internships in
police and security forces near Richmond

and in Virginia. Summer FBI Honors

Internships in Quantico and DC. are also

available for students with a high GPA.

Call your local FBI divisional office for

information.

SPEAKING FOR THE DEAD

"One uses AGE — Accumulation of Even.lhing,"' to in\"estigate a homicide, says Eric
Witzig '95 MS/H&S, Major Case Specialist for the FBI at Quantico, X'irgjna. "Ever\-
homicide is different. We cannot use a cookbook approach to their solutions. \Ve
may be fortunate enough to have vsitnesses, crucial ph^ical e\idence, circumstances,
which wiU shape and direct the course of the investigation."

Contrary to what many of us believe, investigators don't look at motive. Not
eveiy murder has a motive, says W'itzig. "Motive is what is sold to the juxy, it's not
how homicides are solved. It does help to know behaviors, so we know who we're
looking for."

After 20 years in the DC Metropolitan Police Department — 10 in homicide —
Witzig joined the FBI Academ\- at Quantico in 1990. \\'hen he heard that Dr. Tim
Hooker, "well knowTi in law enforcement circles in \'irginia," would bring \'CL"s MS
in Criminal Justice to Quantico, he enrolled. "I thought we were going to hang a
couple of initials after the name and move on. " Witzig got more than he expected,
especially in the management component. "I didn't have to wait until the end of the
course to use the tools."

Witzig uses his skills as a death and homicide investigator in MCap (Molent
Criminal Apprehension Program). \'iCap's caseload is currently more than 13,000,
nearh' 90 percent of it homicides. With a fe\v exceptions, the FBI has no iiuisdiction

S I" .VI M E R 19 9 5

in homicide, but local or state law enforcement often ask for FBI assistance or a joint
investigation.

Criminal Investigative Analysis (CIA) is a tool the FBI uses to help solve cases
where the identity of the offender is unknown. "Based on a thorough analysis of the
crime, we can describe offender traits. Whether it is a sexual assault or a murder, diere
is a lot going on. And if the offender reveals enough through their behavior, then
characteristics can be ascribed to die most probable offender. We have to work with
what is given to us."

A line from the movie Body Heat still resonates with Witzig: "When you commit a
murder diere are fifty different ways to mess up. Anybody who diinks of seventeen is
a genius." Witzig waits for genius in the car, using his driving time to think.

Technology is making a difference. DNA, "die code of die individual, is a
paradigm shift in physical evidence," says Witzig. The internet and television are
replacing the Post Office wall for posting information to the public; at limited access
internet sites, police can exchange information and professional news. Computer
systems identify bullets and fingerprints— AFIS (Automated Fingerprint
Identification System) — and link crimes in different cities. "If you Ve got a recovered
print, you've got a closed case."

Upcoming are scanners in patrol cars. When a citizen puts a thumb into the
scanner, die scanned image will be transmitted to die police station and then into
AFIS. A photo, name and information will appear on a screen in the squad car.
Officers will know "whether they are dealing widi John Q. Public or Fred L. Felon,
wanted for an outstanding warrant."

Trend analyses predict a surge of violent crime at the millennium. "Scary stuff,"
Witzig comments. He has a dieory. He observes that running red lights is pandemic
in DC. "It's as diough everyone's individual business is more important than society's
as a whole. Maybe it represents a growing frustration with society."

"Where do we not see people running lights?" he continues. "Where there are no
red lights — areas widi lower population density." What is the connection (if any) wdth
homicide? "I don't know. Some places in the U.S. do not know murder and others
know too much. Are more homicides being committed out of frustration? So many
questions need to be answered."

One answer is very personal. "Who speaks for the dead?" Witzig asks grimly. "We
do. The offenders must be brought to die bar of justice."

"OFFICER FRIENDLY"

Yes, Virginia, VCU Police are "real" police. VCU Officer Rebecca Shaw '80BA/H&S

comments, "Nobody thinks we are actually out diere chasing people down the street
and making arrests." But diey do. "A lot of people think 'there's low campus crime,
therefore the police officers aren't doing that much.'" But they are.

Faculty, staff, students and patients on the two campuses add up to aroimd 35,000
people. All of them have stuff^from notebooks to computers to cars — that might be
stolen, which increases the possibility of crime. Approximately 95 percent of campus
crime involves theft, and 65-70 percent of diat is potentially preventable.

"We provide protection to the city because we impact it in such a big way," Shaw
explains. Virginia's Campus Police Act, which put police on campuses, was a response
to student unrest during the Vietnam era. "City Police patrol the area, but they don't
have jurisdiction in VCU buildings which are state properties. That's our patrol."

The 63 sworn officers of die VCU Campus Police are academy- and field- trained
and certified through die State Department of Criminal Justice Sei-vices. They also
enjoy the joke diat Patrol Division Headquarters and the VCU Police Academy are at
the former site of Grace Street rock clubs Newgate Prison and Scodand Yard.

Officers in glass houses (photo) must be community police, and Shaw directs die
program for die academic campus. The idea is simple: the people are the police. Shaw
"educates people to be a source of their own safety." She teaches them to choose locks
and lighting with security in mmd, how to be alert. "I want to be the kind of person
die constable was in days past. He strolled around, talked to die child in the play-
ground, shook die doors to the shops. It's important for people to know me." She'd
like more people to use police observer programs and ride-along with an officer.

Shaw doesn't talk much about danger, but when she became an officer, her
modier gave her a bulletproof vest, saying, "You wear this.'" On a hot day in die early
'80s she had left her vest at home. On patrol, she heard a scraping sound as a car left a

Eric Wirzig

Wanted by the FBI

Three years ago, VCU took its MS in
Criminal Justice to the national FBI
Academy in Quantico, VA. FBI specialist
agents who are division heads must have
a master's degree. "Based on their
needs," says department chairman Dr.
Jim Hooker, "we offer some of our
courses, enough to fill the master's
requirements. We teach general criminal
justice, an understanding of the whole
system in the U.S.; some law classes;
management; and a course on internation-
al law enforcement systems." Students
can do a thesis or take a comprehensive
exam.

There are eight recent graduates and
"some pretty interesting theses, like Eric
Witzig's on serial killers." The three-and-a-
half-year program is open to anyone in
Northen Virginia; a few of the 22 students
are from local forces near DC. "No civil-
ians, yet," Hooker laughs.

Rebecca Shaw

SHAFER COURT CONNECTIONS

Street Wise at VCU

Here are a few of the tfiings VCU does to

make our urban environment safer for

students, staff and neigfibors

Sodium Lighting lights up both campuses,

augmented by highly reflective paint in the

academic parking deck. A network of

Emergency Call Boxes indoors and out

provide an immediate link to VCU Police.

City Police and VCU Police patrol the
campus, as well as the Corps of Policing
Specialists (COPS) — student volunteers

trained and supervised by VCU Police, who
also act as security escorts and conduct

routine building checks, reporting any suspi-
cious activity on their police radios. The

thirteen-officer Bike Patrol certified through
the International Police Mountain Bike

Association handles cobblestones and alleys

for effective support to car and foot patrols.

Security Escorts, well-used by evening

commuter students, are available on the

academic campus Mon-Sat 5:30pm-2am and

Sun 6pm-midnight. On the health sciences

campus, escorts are available every day

5pm-8am.

Education for students and staff teaches
them to be street-wise and alert in protecting
themselves, through orientations and
security assessments offered to depart-
ments and dorms. In the Rape and
Aggression Defense (RAD) course,
VCU/MCV women learn situations to avoid,
verbal assertiveness and defensive tactics.

Operation Identification lends engraving
tools from VCU Police to permanently mark

valuables and supplies property inventory

forms. Bicycle Registration is also available

through VCU Police.

parking space, 'thinking she'd heard a scratch and run — "I was being 'Officer
Friendly"' —she pulled him over. He said he didn't have to talk tf) "just a security
guard," grabbed his license back and drove off. Shaw pursued him through
downtown and stopped him behind the Governor's Mansion.

As she approached his car, he reached toward a bag under hLs feet Shaw decided
not to pull her 9-millimeter Heretta. Instead, she reached into the car and yanked the
man through the window. "My mind gave me the strength — not muscle." He was
wanted for numerous area bank robberies. In fact, he was moving hLs car to rob the
hank in the Nelson Clinic building when Shaw heard that sfjund (bad transmission,
real police). A loaded 38- was in his bag. "I think I saved my life by not pulling my
weapon — and saved his too." Ihe Richmond Police Department awarded Shaw the
Excellent Police Duty Medal. (Several VCU Police have won awards, as well as the
campus-community policing program itself.)

Shaw finds other rewards more important. "It's gtxxl to have a person in a
uniform with you when something terrible is happening who will say, 'It's only as bad
as it is. Let's not think this is forever. We'll make sure things get better.' I want to be
the person that adds the balance back when I can."

Although she admits the "people pain" in police work can be tough, she affects
that balance more often than she knows. A homeless man she had arrested many
times called her a year ago from Pennsylvania. She hadn't seen him in eight years and
feared he was dead. He told her, "You always cared about me and you always respect-
ed me. I'm off the alcohol. I don't have very much but what I have is mine. I vi^anted
you to know that."

Shaw says, "I couldn't tell you anything that I value more about police work."

POLICING FOR PEOPLE

"Policing is a lot more than enforcing laws," says James Fox '73AA '74BS
'79MS/H&S, major of uniform operations for Henrico police.

Fox lists a daunting array of professional qualifications required of police oflScers:
Someone who is not focused on "I," but on "we" and "us"; a person who is t^ust^vor-
thy, self-directed, decisive, disciplined, organized, a good communicator, and CTeati\-e
in developing strategies. Ideally, a recruit has a good educational background, critical
thinking and problem-solving skills, stabilit)', maturit\- and flexibilit\'.

During his 22 years with Henrico Police, Fox has seen dramatic changes in educa-
tion and field training. "A good majority of our police officers have a minimum of
four years of college — and not always in criminal justice. Man>- are working on their
master's. We want people who can be leaders in the communit>-."

For more than 10 years. Fox has been an adiunct facultx' member at \'CV.
Education, he says, exposes prospective officers to a global perspective on issues,
which is important because their job influences the qualit\- of life in the community.
But, he adds, "1 don't feel like an education tells you how to do the job. In the
academy, we give them the skills."

For many officers, policing is their first job after college. "If they have come from a
middle-class neighborhood and gone to a universit)- out in the countr.- somewhere,
and their first assignment is in subsidized housing — it could be a total shock. You've
got to understand that environment and the people to properly police it" Fox takes
his students into the cit)-. But, as classes get bigger, "It's hard to take 40 people to one
place to assess a problem and make a strategic plan."

"Any good police department is under constant change." Ten years ago, "policing
was very control-minded, there \vere supervisors for even." five people. Empowerment
is hard for us — it's hard to give up control, especially when we are stiU semi-militaris-
tic in many ways. And some degree of control is necessar\-, because there is no room
for corruption in poUcing."

The old model allowed little room for innovation. "We saw ourselves strictly as law
enforcers. Today's officers are encouraged to get out of the box, take the risk. \"ou
can't change procedures; but an officer might help a neighborhood de\-elop a voUey-
ball program for kids."

Often, when community police do identif\- neighborhood needs, these aren't
police problems. "We need the planning people, the roads p^eople, the recreation
people, social services, ment,il health, the health department." Fox expects govern-
ment in the future to become more proactive and to focus less on setting regulations
and more on problem-solving through teamwork.

; t.- M M E R 19 9 5

Like Eric Witzig, Fox recognizes the tremendous impact of new technologies. But,
he reminds us, "Computers are going to give you all the information in the world, but
a computer is not going to solve people problems. Policing is dealing with people."

"NO QUICK FIX"

"Corrections implies that we correct something. Wliat do we correct?" asks Joan
Kerr '80MS/H&S, regional manager for the Central Region Virginia DOC. "There is
no quick fix for human behavior."

"A lot of our population have been abused and abusers; battered and batterers —
how do you stop that cycle? Obviously prison doesn't do it. Do we have enough
money in the world to stop that cycle?"

Academic and vocational programs are offered to state inmates. Breaking Barriers,
developed by an ex-offender, teaches prisoners coping and communication skills,
conflict resolution and problem solving. Life Skills Training is a basic course in such
things as hygiene, sanitation and using a checkbook. Says Kerr, "You need access to a
lot of opportunities to change your behavior — if that's what you choose to do.
Ultimately, people have to correct themselves."

Kerr supervises six Virginia State Prisons and conducts quarterly audits of each
facility. She explains, with her trademark chuckle, how she fills in her calendar in
pencil because she has to change it so often. Years ago a friend told her that with her
resume she could earn $60,000 a year in business, but Kerr says she could never work
in an environment where profit and loss were the key focus.

Kerr supports work projects for inmates. The current rate of pay is 23-45 cents an
hour (skilled work crews receive higher wages). Kerr tells folks, "Before you tell me we
are coddling inmates, I want to take you on a tour." TVs and VCRs are purchased
through commissary profits, not with tax dollars (except in new facilities). Typically,
inmates sit on rows of backless benches in front of a TV mounted high on the wall of
a three-story room where the sound bounces off the walls.

"Under Virginia law," she says, "the removal of the inmate fi-om his community is
his punishment; that alone is enough. The responsibility of corrections is first to
public safety, then staff safety, and finally, inmate safety."

Kerr calls corrections officers unsung heroes. "They work with the guy you hope
never comes back to your community. Where would we be without them? They put
their lives on the line daily, walking the tiers" — armed only with a blood spUl kit,
handcuffs, a whistle, a phone and their interpersonal skills. (They carry firearms only-
outside the perimeter).

Despite the lack of privacy and fi'eedom, incarceration is a move up for many.
Eighty percent of the prison population have a history of substance abuse. "In many
instances it's first time they've had three squares, a bed and consistent health care in
their Hfe."

Whenever Kerr visits a facility she walks out in the yard, and into the dorm and cell
areas. She has no fear of inmates. "We know what they're in here for. When you walk
down the street, you don't know who's walking past you."

Kerr is concerned about a change she sees in young newcomers to the prison pop-
ulation — "a very fatalistic kind of individual. They don't respect themselves or
anything else." She wonders whether the need for immediate gratification — in all of
society — is part of the reason.

"We never have enough. I'm afraid we are totally losing sight of what gives us con-
tentment, peace and a sense of accomplishment as individuals. That's scary, because if
you can't find happiness within yourself you have the potential to destroy anything
that gets in your way. People seem to be envious of the haves, and most people seem
to consider themselves have-nots at one level or another, so they don't feel sony for
the real have-nots — they've lost sight with who that is."

She recalls a vocational instructor at the state pen who told her in the early '70s
about an exlraordinarily talented drafting student. When asked what he would do
when he got out, the student said he would go back to moonshining. He told the
instructor "I can make more in 30 days than you probably make in 10 years and I'm
only going to do 18 months in prison."

As a caseworker for the juvenile system she met children so badly damaged that
there was nothing that could be done for them. She says sometimes you know
without a doubt. "Can you imagine a fifteen-year-old not having the capacity to
change because they've been through so much — isn't that horrendous?

James Fox

Joan Kerr

SHAFER COURT CONNECTIONS

Michelle Mitchell

"What do you get for your buck?"

—Sheriff Mitchell

Design capacity
of the Richmond City Jail: 930

1986 Population: 600-700
220 deputies

October, 1995: 1440
435 deputies

Population peak, Summer, 1994: 1505

Projection for 2001: 2500

Each prisoner bed: S35-$37,000 annually

Cost to build a
300 bed facility: $52-53 million

"Virginia's children are her most valuable natural resource, and until wc focus on
that we are going to have to continue to build prLsons,"

RAZOR WIRE AND FAMILIES

'I hrcc generations ol one family were in the KithnK^nd (My Jail — ^at the same time —
grandmother, daughter and grandson. "This is not atypical," says Richmond's Sheriff
Michelle Mitchell '84BS/H&S. "Nobody wakes up and says 'Oh, gee — I really want to
go to jail today.' lint things happen to you that make you make choices that cause you

to end up in prison or jail."

Elected in November 1993, Mitchell is one of only 20 women sheriffs in the L'.S.
and the first in Virginia; there are 3,095 sheriffs in the U.S. Mitchell Is respoasible for
the daily operation of the Richmond City Jail, one of the largest on the East (JctasX. She
also oversees security requirements for thirteen courts in the City of Richmond.

Local jails cannot refuse to take prisoners, even when they are beyond design
capacity. In Richmond, space and staff for counseling and programs is extremely
limited. Mitchell has begun a program that brings citizens into the jail to see that
people are sleeping next to toilets and standing in line to use the bathroom. Inmates
have eight and a half minutes to get through a cafeteria line, get their food, eat it and
put the tray back.

When she graduated from VCU, a psychology major with honors, Mitchell
couldn't find a job. After a stint with the DOC, she was hired as a rehab counselor at
the City Jail. "I didn't even know where it was." Her caseload was 180 felons. "NNliat in
the world have I gotten myself into?" was her first thought after walking through the
doors. After five interviews with felons, "I finally realized that these are not esil
people — these are real people with serious needs that are not being addressed."

When Mitchell began working in home incarceration, she went into homes \vhere
there were missing windowpanes, no locks on doors, no electricity, phone or running
water. "You ride by it — but I had never stepped into that. I didn't think that existed to
the large extent that it does. It would have to make you feel hopeless to see that no one
in your family — other than the person who sold drugs — had escaped that en\'iron-
ment.

"Families provide a service in this communit)' — setting goals and ha\'ing expecta-
tions for the members. WTien you don't have that, you have this chaos that we're
seeing now."

Schools must serve as surrogates. "The school year is too short Two and a half
months doing nothing is a real problem for inner-cit\' kids. "They start taking the
baggies (of drugs) across the street at ages 10 or 11. This is the way the kids are pulled
in. They don't really see anything wrong with it — it's just a way to make mone\-.
We're going to have to intervene earlier to meet children's needs and break the cyde
of hopelessness."

When offenders are released, most go back to a bad emironment or straight to the
streets. Many are not on probation or parole. Only 10 percent are court-ordered to
halfway houses. There's no organization to help them net\vork their way back into
society.

Ex-offenders have few options. The highest grade completed by the average male
offender is 7th — for women, 1 1th. Plus, they have a criminal histor.'. .A minimum
wage job won't pull them out of povert)', and many lo\v-skill jobs have vanished
because of technology. "We hold up the small number of people \vho make it and say
everyone can do it. That's just not true."

Spending money to build jails without investing in prevention and rehabilitation
means societ\' will lose in the end, says Mitchell. Still, she remains optimistic "I
believe in people. Eventual!}-, I truly believe people \\ill listen."

GLORIA THOMAS IS A RESEARCH ASSOCIATE FO- "-i
URBAN DEVELOPMENT AT VCU'S CENTER FOR P U S ^ .C
TEACHES AND LECTURES ON VIOLENCE ISSUES,

^ CENTER FOR
SHE WRITES.

PHOTOGRAPHY (EXCEPT WHERE NOTED) B"t DAVID STOVER '77BFA/A 86MFA/A.

F .\ I I 19 9 4

Body of Evidence

ystery tans around the world know Patricia CornweU's crime-solving medical
examiner, Dr. Kay Scarpetta. But not many know that the fictional character is based
on an actual person — Dr. Marcella Fierro '75HS/M, Virginia's Chief Medical
Examiner. Fierro also chairs the Department of Legal Medicine; she has spent all but
18 months of hpr 23-year career on the MCV faculty.

FierrodeScribes her grim duties calmly. "My job is, first of all, to examine persons
-Avho'die an unexpected or violent death, and secondly to administer Virginia's
statewide medical examiners system." Autopsies, she explains, cover four areas:
"determining the cause of death, establishing the manner or circumstances of death —

accident, homicide or suicide — working with law
enforcement in a legal and medical investigation, and
collecting medical evidence so if a court proceeding is to
come, there will be good information." You don't want
two lawyers arguing time of death," she says. "You hope
to present the medical facts clearly, so they are consid-
ered as matters of science rather than matters of
oratory."

Fierro's job strikes many of us as gruesome and
repellent. She points out that "If you're in the practice
of medicine at all, you see grisly sights, whether you're
in the emergency room or surgery or do trauma work.
A person who's had injuries needs someone to take
compassionate care of them, not someone caught up in
their pain and suffering or put off by their injuries."

Along with the necessary detachment, Fierro still feels an urgent engagement with
the person — in a way, still her patient. "When violent deaths come in they really speak
to you," she observes, "as loudly as any voice. Their injuries are like a hundred voices
saying 'See me, see me, see this injury, see this.' They say, 'This is what happened to
me; now I need you to document this, to photograph it, and to ex-plain to people how
it occurred and what it means.' So I feel like I'm speaking for them, but in truth
they've really spoken to me."

Marcella Fierro takes comparisons to Kay Scarpetta good-naturedly. "It's not really
me who's immortalized; the character is very charming and intriguing, and she does
basically what I and other forensic pathologists do — but Scarpetta is CornweU's
creation." Fierro understands Scarpetta's appeal. "She tries hard, she has obstacles to
overcome, she has to deal with her own personal issues."

As for physical resemblance, Fierro laughs. "You know, Scarpetta is described as
blonde, blue-eyed and weighing 105 pounds. I'm not blonde, I don't have blue eyes,
and I haven't weighed 105 pounds since 1 was 10 years old."

JANE

WILLIAMS

BALLARD

'89BA/H&S

Most Wanted Producer

As a production locale for a television series, Wilmington, North Carolina rarely
comes to mind. Yet for VCU graduate Chris Watkins '64BFA/A, it was the right
place.

And the right time. Watkins lucked into real-crime TV when another project fell
through. "We didn't get the budget for it. And a friend of mine said, 'Well, since this

SHAFER COURT CONNECTIONS

isn't happening, can you he the courdinator on a two-part qjLsodc for UriMjIvcd

iVlysteries?'" Both Unsolved Mysteries (FoxJ and America's Most Wanted f NBCj are
llhTi projects, not videotape " — and I was already connected in the
local film community." Chris began a fruitful four-year professional
association with both programs. For theater people, "America's most
wanted" is often a shot at directing. "I was finally able to break through
the ranks and become a director for America's Most Wanted. Of
course, I greatly appreciated that."

Cutting to the chase, she talks about a segment on criminal Bobby
Hinson. "I le had fled the country, and immediately after the show we
had a response from Canada — so his follow-up and capture took place
within 36 hours! I really felt that we accomplished something,"

Working with grieving family members took its toll. "We dealt with
tragedies, with things that were perfectly horrific, and that got to be
very tough. The shows aren't difficult from the physical standpcjint of
putting a production together, but you wind up getting phone calls
from family members months and months after: 'Have you found

anything?'" She left both shows in 1993, although she occasionally produces foUow-

up or captures episodes in the area.

For now, Chris has gone back to talk radio. Her audience-driven, issue-oriented

show "is a lot of fun; I never know when I go in every morning what's going to '

happen."

Book 'em

Dr. Kay Scarpetta depends on Lieutenant Pete Marino as a fnend and col-
league. Scarpetta's creator, best-selling author Patricia Cornwell, gets backup
from former Richmond police officer Cristine Bailor '91MPAyH&S. The tvvo
gutsy women have a few things in common.

Speaking in November on "Peacemaking in a World of Violence,"
Cornwell described her fiction, based on real crimes, as "victim-driven." Bailor
spent 18 years in the Richmond Police Department, one of the first women on
the force. "I absolutely loved it." But it was time for a change.

In 1994 Bailor left the department to become vice president for Cornwell
Enterprises, which handles the author's publishing, and Bell Vision
Productions, a film and graphics design firm responsible for getting Comwell's
work onto the big screen. "I travel extensively. It's fun, and I'm able to use my
police contacts in setting up research." That VCU master's comes in handy,
too. "There's not a tremendous difterence betiveen public admin-
istration and business administration," she says.

On the street, in print and on film. Bailor and Cornwell fight the
violence. As Cornwell said in her speech, "If \'iolence is real, let's accept
the reality of it, and let's be horrified by it. For me, the blood is real. The
bodies are real."

The Cornwell Connection

Yet another VCU-Patricia Cornwell connection is a generous donation
the crime writer has made to the MFA Creati\'e \\'riting Endowment.
Other contributions, some from program alumni, \\ill activate the fund
by Fall 1996 to support \isiting vsTiters and speakers, some student acti\i-
ties, and the program newsletter. The While's Belly (Editor Herman
Mehille, Editoriiil Assistants: Jonah Queequeg and Demi Moore).

The Check Stays in the Mail

Ever wondered who backs up those "prohibited mailing" signs at the post office? In 91
Virginia counties and Bristol, Tennessee, that stem duty fails to the staff of Delmar
Wright '77BS '87MS/H&S, Inspector in Charge of the Richmond Division of the U.S.
Postal Inspection Service. "We investigate external crimes, such as post office
burglaries, robberies, assaults, homicides, as well as internal crimes such as
theft by postal or contract employees."

Customers frequently attempt to mail bombs, switchblades, firearms,
drugs and poisons, providing the PIS with yet more work. Not to be over-
looked is mail fraud, an offense with a long, ignoble lineage. Wright says it's
"the oldest white collar criminal statute on the books," enacted during the
eighteenth century by the Continental Congress.

On the job since 1977, Wright has opened some interesting mail. "We
worked the insider trading case in New York with Ivan Boesky," he notes,
"and we also investigated the Virginia Retirement System and closed that
recendy." His department also pursued the largest white-collar fraud prose-
cution in Virginia history against the Richmond-based Swank Corporation.

And then there was the case of the Newark mail thieves, impatient to the point of
incompetence. "They would actually foUow mail carriers so closely that they'd bump
into them coming back down the steps from the residence," he chuckles.

Whatever the offense, Virginians can be sure that neither snow nor sleet nor dark
of night will prevent Delmar Wright and his postal investigators from protecting
their maU.

Geography of Crime

In an era where law enforcement officials are overwhelmed by staggeringly high rates
of violent crime, the chairman of VCU's Urban Studies and Planning Department is
coming at the problem from a different perspective. Dr. Mort Gulak has a grant to
study crime prevention through environmental design, or CPTED.

"This is an extension of research I've been doing for four years. I've been looking at
murder sites trying to see if there are some common elements of the physical design
environment." Gulak has already noted some alarming constants. "Lighting is a real
problem — it's done for autos, not pedestrians," he says. Trees are often overgrown in
urban areas, excluding even more light. "And there aren't clear indicators — like

bushes, fence posts, or signs — marking off private property,
which allows people to feel it's okay to do anything anywhere."
Neighborhood design and maintenance can help. "Are the
designs of the homes consistent?" Dr. Gulak asks. "Do they fit
together to form a unit? What are the colors, plantings, land-
scaping? Are the houses visible to the street? How are the streets
laid out?" All these factors, he notes, can send a message that
"you're being watched, don't commit a crime here."

Gulak is looking "beyond the individual sites and to where
the offender lives, where the victim lived, and the crime site.
I'm looking at distance between them to see what conclusions
come out of that. Ultimately I hope to find some consistency in
the kinds of environments where these things happen."
The next step, of course, "would be to come up with some guidelines to reduce the
number of homicides in an area." Gulak says, "Richmond and Henrico have already
made recommendations to improve physical environments to prevent crime. The
VCU Police have helped designers with safer buildings and lighting." Sarasota,
Florida, Tucson, and several Canadian provinces have adopted CPTED laws.
Now that's academia in action.

JANE BALLARD IS

A PRISON

LIBRARIAN AT

GREENSVILLE

CORRECTIONAL

CENTER IN

VIRGINIA.

ILLUSTRATIONS

BY CHAD

CAMERON

'94BFA/ A

SHAFER COURT CONNECTIONS

English

Miles W. Woods was so much more than an F.ngiish profcss^jr. His enthusiasm for all
life was contagious, and he taught me alxjut the layers of life. Never would 1 amsider
things black and white again.

— Patricia Graziani Beagle '57BFA/A

The Rl^I faculty member who most helped equip me for living a gocxl life was in the
English Department, one of Jess McCoy's shining lights. Mr. Miles Walker Woods
used the poetry and prose of English literature to challenge, instruct and illuminate
our lives. I took ever)' course he offered, did not care a h(X)t what grades I earned,
worked harder than I thought possible, remained in a kind of creative ecstasy
throughout the term, and always wished the class periods were not so short He was
in a class ot one.

—Robertson Langley Wood '49BS/H&S

Rehabilitation Counseling

The one person at VCU who changed my life was Dr. Marcia Lawton, head of the
Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation Counseling Program (ADERPl. When I met her in
1973, 1 was fascinated by the addiction concept and how it seemed to affect so many
lives, including my o%vn. The education and awareness that Dr. Lawton imparts has
been invaluable to me in my chosen field of addictive diseases.

Over the years, Dr. Lawton has been a teacher, a mentor and a friend to me. I am
truly grateful to VCU for ha\'ing the openness and insight that enabled our meeting.

— AUcia Navon LPC, CSAC, CAC '77MS/AH

Dr. Marcia Lawton gets to stand in this spotlight. I never imagined before how my
lifetime love of performing would link in such a profound way with substance abuse
counseling. Dr. Lawton felt it was essential for us to know about our own quality of
life to see what we ourselves may have been missing, before we looked at helping
other people.

I had played guitar for 30 years. My Wellness Plan for her class got me my first
paid gigs.

More than anyone else at VCU, not only did she help me reach my professional
goals, she helped me find a piece missing from my spiritual, creative life. I promise
that if I play anywhere in the Richmond area, Dr. Lawton will get front-row seats,
free!

— Joseph Hamburger '94MS/ AH

Who was most important Marcia iMwton was VCU'sDistingtiished Teacher for 19S9. She HiU be retiring mjtme 1996.
to you at RPI and VCU?

Tell us at VCU Alumni Activities. P.O. Box
843044. Richmond. VA 23284-3044;

email: mercer@cabell.vcu.edu:

fax: (804) 828-0878.

m
z

<
z

S U M .\! E R

BY MARY ELLEN MERCER

"For me, it was the chance of a lifetime." Dr. Robert Rosenbaum '93MD/M was

Senior Medical Officer on the USS Kearsarge, the ship that picked up Lt. Scott
O'Grady five days after he was shot down in Bosnia.

O'Grady came aboard on July 7 "looking pretty bad after five days of hunger and
exposure. Bums, bruises, but no serious injuries. He had pneumonia and a good case
of trench foot — if you spend a long time with water in your boots, the bottom of your
foot begins to rot."

After the flight surgeon's debriefing, immediate medical care, "and all the hype,"
Rosenbaum had a chance to talk v«th O'Grady for an hour. "I've been interested for a
long time in the survivor personality. It was a real peak to be able to interview him,
especially within hours of the experience." Rosenbaum asked what got him through.
"I wasn't ready to die yet," O'Grady said. "I love life too much. I needed to see my
family again; I hadn't said good-by to them. And I think God decided it wasn't my
time yet." These are common themes among survivors, Rosenbaum says.

O'Grady talked about hiding in a bush and hearing people walk past him.
Sometimes he wept. By the third day, he caught himself laughing and making jokes —
"I'm just out here camping," he'd tell himself "He thought he was really losing it
then," says Rosenbaum. "But that's a normal coping mechanism; it's healthy."

Rosenbaum adds, "Of course, it's more than the mindset. He had trained in the
military's SERE (Search, Evasion, Rescue and Escape) program in Maine, a grueling
course. He knew how to do this."

Rosenbaum is convinced that "We can all learn something fi-om people who've
been through this. If more survivor experience were available, there would be more
survivors."

Rosenbaum gives
^ccretar)' of the Navy,
lohn Dalton, a tour of
the USS Kearsarge
(below left). The
assault ship's nine
medical officers can
handle as many as 600
patients. "When we
laimch the Marines, we
expand from the 54-
bed primar)' ward to
that entire deck for 600
beds," Rosenbaum
explains. There are six
operating rooms, an
lS-bedICU,ablood
bank with two
^^^ thousand units of
frozen blood, a full
(plain film) radiology
department (two

mobile and two
installed units). "We
have the capabilities of
MCV Hospitals on a
smaller scale, "
Rosenbaum says.

PHOTOGRAPHS
COURTESY OF
DR. ROSENBAUM

SHAFER COURT CONNECTIONS

*Member oftlic VCU Alumni
Association

1 940s

*J.IrvinBeatley'47C/A
and William D. Gravitt
'60BFA/A, founders of
Beadey Gravitt Communica-
tions, a design firm in
Newport News, celebrated
the firm's 25th anniversary.

David Jeffreys '48BS
'50MS/SW retired in 1987
after serving as the first exec-
utive director of the
American Association of
State Social Work Boards.
He volunteered as president
of the South Carolina Board
of Social Work Examiners
from 1987-93.

1 950s

*Charles Boardman
'58BS/B is president of the
Alzheimer's Association
Board of Directors, Tampa
Bay Chapter. Charles is also
an adjunct instructor at St.
Petersburg Junior College.

1 960s

Belinda Blanchard '69 AS
'82BS '90MBA/B is manager
of the local government
investment pool for the
Virginia Treasurer's Office.
Belinda vied for a Republi-
can nomination for treasurer
in Hanover County earlier
this year.

Douglas Burford
'65BS/MC and his wife
Nancy were featured in the
Richmond Times-Dispatch

for the 27-year success of
their ad agency, Burford
Company Advertising.

AbramClymer'67BS/B
was recently named to the
Hesston College Board of
Overseers in Hesston, KS.
Abram is owner and CEO of
Chesa, Ltd., which operates
six Christian bookstores in
Virginia.

James Cooley'68BS/B
retired from Exxon Co. USA
after serving 27 years. James
was territory manager in the
Mid-Adantic area for mar-
keting.

Suzaime Day '62BFA/A
received a master of theolog-
ical studies degree from
Duke University in May.

*Linda Foley '65BS/B is
director for direct marketing
programs at Habitat for
Humanity International in
Americus, GA.

*Avery Goodwin '69BS/E
is assistant principal at
Buckingham Middle School,
Buckingham, VA. Avery is
also the school's head coach
for track and golf

*Anne Newkirk '66BS/B
is a realtor with Bowers
Nelms & FonviUe in
Richmond.

Randy Powell '68BS/MC
is owner of Blue Sky
Entertainment, a special
events marketing and pro-
motion firm.

■^Delice Richards
'68BFA/A is a computer
systems analyst for Anne
Arundel Counr\', MD ^vhere
she is currently designing an

integrated, interactive infor-
mation system for the

county's Office on Aging.

Sarah Riley '69BFA/A
chairs the department of art
at Southeast Misvjuri State
University in C^apc
Girardeau. Sarah was
accepted by the Vermont
Studio Center to an artist's
residency in August.

*Robert Vogler
'69BS/H&S was recently
appointed director of pupil
personnel services for Henry
County Public Schools.

Thomas Wilkinson
'63BS/H8cS received a 1995
Award of Merit from the
American Society for Testing
and Materials committee on
adhesives in June. TTiomas is
section supervisor of the
applied engineering and
experimental mechanics
section at Reynolds Metals
Company.

*Donna Wine '69BFA/A
started a home business spe-
cializing in personalized
children's books called For
You & Yours. Donna is an
elementar)' science teacher
with Faquier County
Schools.

1970s

Mary Brockenbrough
'74BA/H&S was featured in

the Richmond Times-
Dispatch for her love of
cycling. Mary travels 14 miles
to and from Luther
Memorial School, \s-here she
teaches nursery school.

Roland Burgess '76BS/B,
a lieutenant colonel in the
U.S. Marine Corps, received
a change of command
assignment in April to
Marine All Weather Fighter
Attack Squadron-332.

Robert Burrell'71BS/B
received an associate in
premium auditing from the
InsuTimce Institute of

America. RtAxnt is a com-
mercial lines underwriting
supcrvi.v;r with Harleysvijle
Mutual Insurance ''yjmpany.

Peggy C:antrell'76BS/
H&S was apfxjinted interim
dean of the Sch<xjl of
Graduate Studies at East
Tennessee State University
on July 1 . Peggy has btx-n a
fijll-time faculty member of
ETSU since 1984 and Is cur-
rently an assfKiate professor
of psychology.

Joseph Cortina
'76BFA/A is co-creator and
director oiBluestar, the nevk-
computer animated science
fiction adventure on CD-
ROM, starring LeVar Burton
and due out in Januar\'.
Joseph is an Emmy award-
winning television and
computer animation director

S.I.A.R,1. H[R[

If you are moving o' '.
relocating to a r e ::

would like to spear .-. :'
someone who lives Itiere about
things like schools, housing,
local customs, mass f; _
tion. taxes, the club s:- -:

us at the Office of Alumni
Activities.

Alumni from throuc : ^
United States have sig-ez _; ■;
provide reic^e: : ' -

through S.T.A.R.T 5

Talking with Alumni for
Relocation Tips). The c : : -
not limited to student;
alumni may participate.

Alert to global alum-' We
could use some fo-s g- rc--=-
spondents as we ; : ; = :
states .^e ; ej;? -:.;■;.■. tf
you'd ■ e .: - j

To find a = or

■Q voiunee' c ease ;a":ec:
VCU Alumni Activities 3:
P.O. Box 843044, Richmond,
V A 23284-3044 ee vcu-
alum@vcu.edu. ~3 (804)
VCU-ALUM or *a\ (804) 828-
0878

S I.- M M E R ■■ •J 9 5

in McLean, VA where he
lives with his wife Dabney
Cortina 75BS/MC and their
son Joey.

Michael Darr '75BS/MC
is a key operator for Foster
Higgins, a benefits corpora-
tion in Princeton, NJ.

Vicki Schemer Denison
'72BFA/A was featured in
the March 1995 issue of
Interiors & Sources magazine
for her work designing the
grand foyer of the Marin
County Showcase House in
San Rafael, CA. Vicki is the
principal designer for
Interior Concerns in Mill
VaUey, CA.

Vernon Drinkwater
'75BS/E is attending Old
Dominion University for a
certification program.
Vernon is a part-time
salesman for Ray
Christensen Realty in
Virginia Beach.

*Charlotte Fischer
'71BS/B is chairman of the
board, president and CEO at
Paul Harris Stores, Inc. in
Indianapolis.

Patricia Green
74MSW/SW,headofthe
public relations office at La
Roche College, was recently
awarded most improved

SHARED HISIORY

Nearly 100 alumni from
Chesterfield County,
Petersburg, Colonial Heights
and Chester met at historic
Wrexham Hall in September.
They caught up on their own
recent histories and met VCU
President Eugene Irani and his
wife Lois while the Bob
Hallahan Trio jazzed up the
party. School of Medicine Dean
Hermes Kontos and his wife
Nancy hosted with VCU Alumni
Association President Ken
Magill '65BS/B '69MS/E and
his wife Cheri '75BS/Ed

magazine in the external
publications category of the
1995 National Clarion
Awards Competition for 77;e
La Roche College Magazine
in August. The 2-year-old
magazine was chosen from
400 submissions. Patricia is
currentiy assistant to the
president for community
relations.

Herman Grigsby
'78BFA/A was named
managing director of the
Barksdale Theatre in June.
Herman previously worked
for Nucleus Entertainment
in Los Angeles.

* Lindsay Harrington
'73BS/B is city councilman
for the City of Punta Gorda,
PL where he also serves as
president of Charlotte Co.
4H Foundation, and
member of the Economic
Development Council.
Lindsay is a broker salesman
with Harold T. Goff Realtor.

Suzanne Johnson '79BS
'83MS/H&S, an animal
behaviorist, was featured in
the Richmond Times-
Dispatch during National Pet
Week in May. Suzanne
writes and lectures extensive-
ly at conferences and veteri-
nary hospitals on animal
behavior studies and is cur-
rendy writing A Common
Sense Approach to Dog Care,
which she hopes to publish
next year.

Don Jordan '74MS/B was
promoted to loan produc-

tion manager in April at
Beach Fed Mortgage
Corporation in Virginia
Beach.

Linda Kattwinkel
'75BFA/A known to many of
her classmates as "Frieda,"
works for the intellectual
property firm of Owen,
Wickersham & Erickson,
P.C. in San Francisco, CA
practicing trademark and
copyright law. Linda received
her law degree fi-om Hastings
College of Law in San
Francisco, where she lives
wdth husband, jazz musician
Gary Ceralde, and their son
MUes. She continues to do
graphic and fine art and
showcases her work in
museum and gallery
exhibitions.

^Robert Jacob '74BS/MC
and his family are descen-
dants of John Jacob of the
"Jacob House," an 187-year-
old house on the academic
campus whose builder,
Quaker George Winston,
employed free blacks in his
construction business. The
house was moved across
Cary Street to make room
for the new School of
Engineering. Robert is senior
field service engineer for
Beckman Instruments, Inc.
in Schaumburg, IL.

Ronald Lee '76BS/H8cS
completed an MS in
Gerontology at VCU in
1994. Ronald continues to
work as a self-taught visual

artist, exhibiting work with
African influence. He plans
to become self-employed
focusing on aging, artistic
expression, and health.
Ronald is currentiy an intera-
gency coordinator for the
Richmond Community
Services Board.

Ralph MacPhail
'72MFA/A was presented the
Martha B. Thornton Faculty
Recognition Award from
Bridgewater College during
the college's Founders Day
banquet in March. Ralph is
associate professor of theater,
speech and English and
director of drama at
Bridgewater.

Catherine Maffett
'70BFA/A recently show-
cased her work at George
Mason University's Metro
Gallery Irom August 5-
September 30. While this was
her most recent exhibit,
Catherine has shown her
work throughout the region
and has several works in
private collections.

*Scott Newsham
'79BS/H&S tells us he has
fond memories of his days at
VCU! Scott is a commander
in the U.S. Coast Guard in
Washington, DC. He and his
wife, Christine, live in
Alexandria wdth their two
children.

Ann Peters '72BS/E was
recentiy inducted into Delta
Kappa Gamma Society Int.,
a honor society for women
educators.

(I-r)Developinent Director for
Allied Health. Steve Harvey '70BS
'75MEd/E. Claudia Wall Johnson
'89/E and William Reese
'85/C&PA '94/E.

(l-r)MiUon Kusterer '67/E, School
of Education Dean John Oehlcr and
Frances Kusterer '68/H&S '89/E.

Brenda Nichols '89/N (left) and
Katherine Lipscomb '75/E.

SHAFER COURT CONNECTIONS

11]MII.\I:II)\ \l(.|II^

David Baldacci '83 BA/H&S

^^^_^^^^^^^ ^^^ : / COIKilE CASS

■ 1 ,^^^L_Z' "* ~fl^^^^^^^^H ^^V J '''Y (J3y> Uavid Baldacci seemed like any other young corporate
^^HP ^^^^^BI^^'i^F^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ lawyer. At night, after his towheadcd daughter was tucked into

I icd, he would sit up late with a yellow legal p>ad, writing a novel

I Ic tinkered with the dialogue on the subway ride to work. As he
Liid a patio in his back yard, brick by brick, he built the plot in his
head. Over dinner, he and his wife fine-tuned the characttTS. The
hi >ok took two years. "No one at my firm even knew I was writing
It," Baldacci said. "It was like leading a secret double life."

Lots of people vmte novels. They ship them off to New York
literary agents who get thousands of submissions they don't have
time to read. Only a fraction of a percent of those manuscripts ever
get published. Baldacci is different How did this affable lawyer
with a boyish face and reddish hair, son of a trucking company
foreman, do it?
Unlike two other lawyers turned best-selling authors, John
Grishani and Scott 1 urow, lialdacci decided early that lawyering would support his life as a writer. He has wanted to write since he
was a boy in Richmond haunting the local library. As a political science major at VCU, he opted for every writing-intensh'e course
he could find, and graduated magna cum laude in 1983. After University of Virginia law school, he earned a comfortable living at a
Washington firm three blocks fi-om the White House.

All the while, he studied the characters and pacing of his favorite authors, including Mark Twain, John Irving, John Updike and
Robert Ludlum. He wTote and re-wrote, scrapping thousands of pages. He turned out numerous short stories and four screenplays,
shipped them to magazines and movie studios, and received a stream of rejections in return.

Then he began his novel. He started with a good yam, weaving together a U.S. president, his mistress, a fatal shooting by the
Secret Service and a scandalous cover-up. One of the main characters is a lawyer with a big Washington firm.

A friend in the movie industry helped Baldacci promote his book to New York agents. Fi\'e agents wanted to handle Absolute
Power. Baldacci chose Aaron Priest, who sent the book to major publishers November 7. The next morning, Warner Brothers
offered $500,000 for it. Other publishers were interested, too. So Warner offered SI million. Then S2 million. "It would be stupid
not to take it," Priest said.

Baldacci took it. Then Casde Rock bought the movie rights for SI million; foreign publishing rights meant another 51 million.
"Financial independence is a great thing," the author says with a grin. After finishing his clients' cases at Knight & Holland, he left
the firm last May. Now he is David Baldacci, writer.

The book is due out in Januar)'. Meanwhile, Baldacci has a new screenplay and a second no\el under way. ( Oscar-winner Bill
Goldman is writing the screenplay for Abiolutc Power. "Could I objectively reduce 500 pages to 150? Jettison characters?")

The couple's plans for new wealth are modest — buy a video camera, get a new computer, pa\- off their bills, find good invest-
ments. He's setting up coUege funds for their daughter, Spencer, and two nephews. .\nd he and Michelle are looking forward to the
birth of their second chUd.

None of this happened overnight, he stresses. "You wear two hats — first as a writer and then as a marketer, to sell your work. It
took me 1 1 years, every day trying to get better at the craft. And thousands of pages that now make me blush when I read them,
writing from 10 pm until 3 am," he says. "Too many good wTiters stop at the first rejections."

Baldacci isn't one to get heady with a taste of champagne-and-caviar. His values are definitely meat-and-potatoes. "First of all,
write to please yourself," he advocates. "Enjo)' as much of it as you can, because the research, rewriting, salesmanship, are all part
of it.

"The rest is gra\y on top of the mountain."

The Amazing Baldaccis of VCU. Da\ad is one of three alimini. Older brother, Rudy '76BFA/A majored in communication arts and

design, and older sister Sharon '79BS/MC in news editing. A freelance writer, Sharon recendy received an aw^ard from the NTrginia
Press Women for a feature article in Richmond's St)'le Weekly. — Ed.

WITH PERMISSION, VCU EDITOR MARILYN SCOTT UPDATED — AND VCUED — THIS REVISION OF AN ASSOCIATED PRESS
FEATURE THAT APPEARED DECEMBER. 1994.

PHOTO BY AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS.

SUMMER

Randy Porter '79MEd/E

recently published A Cyclists'
Guide to the Shenandoah
Valley^ which was featured in
the December 1994 issue of
Bicycle Guide and the July
1995 issue of Southern Limig.
His next book, A Mountain
Biker's Guide to Western
Virginia wiU be published by
Menasha Ridge Press. Randy
is writer, publisher and
owner of Shenandoah
Odysseys in Staunton.

Jan Rasmussen
'79BFA/A along with class-
mates Anne Kubik
'81BFA/A, and Margaret
Hatch '88BFA/A work for
MatteU, Inc in El Segundo,
CA. Jan handles digital pro-
duction in the package
design group; Anne and
Margaret are sculptors in the
3D design department.

Zenobia Scott '79MS/E
and her husband, Samuel,
were featured in the
Rich inond Times-Dispatch
for obtaining their seminary
degrees from the School of
Theology at Virginia Union
University. Zenobia had
taught elementary school
until her retirement in 1988,
and said her years of teaching
inspired her to become
minister of youth at
Quioccasin Baptist in
Richmond.

Randal Sheets '72BS/MC
is general manager of direct
distribution at Eisenhart

PLAY II AGAIN, SEAN

West End Richmond alumni
gathered in October at an
encore Neighborhood Alumni
Reception at the Dominion
Club — the setting for VCU's
very first neighborhood recep-
tion in 1993. Universal
Tobacco's Allen King and his
wife Wanda hosted 325 happy
guests who enjoyed live jazz by
student guitarist Sean Moran.

Wallcoverings. Randal
lives in Louisville, KY with
his wife Susan and two
daughters.

Joan Sigmon '71BFA/A
married David Nelms, an
engineer with the U.S. Patent
Office. The couple live in
Manassas with their son,
Damian.

StanSuIc'74BS/is
general manager of Sears
Roebuck & Co. in Gary, NC.
He and his wife, Becky, live
in Apex with their children,
Jared and Leslie.

Maureen Sugarman
'74BFA/A is an interior
design and facilities consul-
tant with The KMJ Group in
Baltimore, specializing in
financial, insurance and
healthcare institutions. She
relocated to the mid- Atlantic
area from Boston and San
Francisco with her 3-year-
old son, Stephen.

Gladys Tatarsky
'72MS/SW recently retired
from MCV Hospitals as a
clinical social worker.

August WaUmeyer
'77BS/MC was featured in
the Richmond Times-
Dispatch for his successful
lobbying efforts. August is
owner of August WaUmeyer
Communications and execu-
tive director of the Virginia
Association of Non-Utility
Power Producers.

*William Warren
'78BS/MC is manager of
media relations at Walt
Disney World in Lake Buena
Vista, PL.

Alfred Whitelow
'71MS/B accepted an
Outstanding Service Award
in honor of his parents, the
late Faith H. and Muriel
Whitelow from Bridgewater
College. The Whitelows have
worked for the food service
department at the college
since 1937. Bridgewater's
president, Phillip Stone,
announced that a scholar-
ship is being instituted in
their honor to be awarded to
deserving minority students.

*GregWingfield'75BS
'76MURP/H8cS is president
of Metro Richmond
Economic Development
Partnership.

Robert Wooding
'76BFA/A, a former art
enthusiast, has become a
"medicine man." Robert
teaches traditional healing
arts in Rappahannock
County.

Mary Yates '70BS/H8cS
'72MS/E was presented with
a Special Recognition Award
from the University of North
Texas in May. Maiy is
director of the University
Union on campus.

1 980s

Bary Badgett '85BFA/A is

a 1995 Mid-Amercia Arts
Alliance/National
Endowment for Arts Fellow.
Bary received his MFA. in
sculpture from Syracuse
University in 1990 and is
currently head of sculpture

media at Wichita State
University.

^Robert Baird '83BS/B is
a real estate broker with
Snyder Hunt Realty, Inc. in
Glen Allen. Robert has
received numerous recogni-
tions for top sales in 1992,
1993 and 1994. He received
Richmond's Top New Home
Sales Person Award from the
National Sales & Marketing
Council in 1994.

Matt Ball '87BS/B is head
golf professional at
Richmond Country Club.

Mary Ballinger '89BS/E is
assistant professor of English
and coordinator of the
writing program at the
University of Charleston,
WV.

*Lori Blackmon
'83BA/H8cS has returned to
VCU to pursue a PhD in
pubUc policy.

James Bonevac '84BS
'86MAyB was recently
promoted to senior business
analyst at Signet Bank.

*Gerald Bowman
'82MS/SW is president of the
International Chapter of the
National Association of
Social Workers (NASW).
Gerald is a social worker in
Germany where he lives with
his wife Iris and their two
children.

*Monique Braxton '8 IBS
'84MS/MC anchors
"Morning Report" for
NewsChannel 8, a 24-hour
cable news service in
Springfield. She was previ-

William Moorefield '74/E (center)
with Wayne Blake '72/E and his
wife Liniia.

(/ rj Peter McNally '92/B. Ryan
Andre^vs '92/B and Jennifer
Welbom Andrews '91/H&S.

VCU Men's Basketball Coach
Sonny Smith (left) with Kathryn
Combs MacIIwaine '89/E and
R.Allen MacIIwaine '83DDS/D.

SHAFER COURT CONNECTIONS

ously peninsula IjLiivau cliici
reporter at WAVY-TV- 10,
the NI5(; affiliate in Norfolk.
Moniquc is engaged to
marry Dr. Dennis Gaskin of
Greensboro, NC in 19%.

GaylCarr'84BS/SWwas
appointed judge for Fairfax
Juvenile and Domestic
Relations Cvml in August
1994. Gayl is a former assis-
tant attorney general for the
Commonwealth of Virginia.
She resides in Fairfax with
her husband Alfred Carr
'83BS/B, a regulatory
accountant for Potomac
Electric Power Company in
Washington, DC.

Elena Chalcraft
'84MFA/A and her husband
Rory had a son, Christopher
Aston, on April 25. Elena is a
human resources analyst for
the American Psychological
Association in Washington
D.C.

JeffeiyCobum'84BS/B
is pastor of Signal Heights
Baptist Church in
Sacramento, CA. Jeffrey
received his Master of
Divinity from Golden Gate
Baptist Theological Seminary
in 1988. He married Lori
Burdinein 1986.

Donna Connor '89BS/B
married Michael Ignacz in
May 1994 in Pittstown, NJ.
Donna is a business system
analyst for Kemper National
Insurance Co. in Summit,
NJ.

TonyEarles'85BS
'87MS/H8cS is curator of the

(Children's Museujn of
Virginia in Portsmouth.

*Francis Feorizzi
'87BS/B is system engineer
supervisor for Electronic
Data Systems in Parsippany,
NJ.

Joan Glynn '85MBA/B is
now director of alumni
affairs for the University of
North Carolina at
Greensboro. Joan was execu-
tive director of the MCV
Alumni Association from
1993 till November, 1995.

Christine Gove '82BS
'93MBAyB was recently
promoted to vice president
for administration and
finance of the MCV
Foundation.

Leigh Guthrie '82BS/MC
is CO- founder with her
husband Steve Patmagrian of
New Atmosphere
Productions, Inc., a special
event production company
and scene shop. Leigh is
museum events coordinator
at The John and Mable
Ringling Museum of Art in
Sarasota, PL, where she and
her husband live with their
two sons.

*Lynn Hackney '88BS/B
is owner and operator of
Century 2 1 Performance, a
real estate brokerage firm in
Fairfax, VA. The firm is the
largest of the Century 2 1
system in VA, MD, DC and
Delaware. Lynn lives in
Vienna, VA with her
husband, Tim McClellan
'88BS/B.

(l-r) Robert Asphmd '94/B ami lus
wife, Ameliii, ivir/i Beverly
Matthews '77/E mid Iicr husband.
Forrest.

Carrie W'ccdon '60 ,.'t,'. .,,
Pamela Kivistik '85/H&S.

'Cathy Hcrndon
'80MS/E is an arti.st and an
art teacher for Fredcrick.s-
burg ( Jty Schools. Cathy
won Best in Show at the
Hanover Arts Festival in May
1995, and has featured her
work in two invitational
shows in July. She will partic-
ipate in a Kingston Univer-
sity teacher exchange in
London next |une.

Mary Hemdon
'88BA/H&S is human
resource manager for the
State Council of Higher
Education for Virginia.

JohnHohl'BlBS/HScS
was recently assigned to U.S.
Strategic Command, Offutt
Air Force Base in Nebraska.
John is a lieutenant com-
mander in the U.S. Navy.

Ruth Hunter '84BFAyA is
a interior design consultant
for Period Designs, which
offers 1 7th and 1 8th centun.'
items. Her son, Robert
Hunter'78BS/H&Sisa
partner in the firm, designing
and developing a variet\' of
historical products. Robert is
also an antique dealer spe-
cializing in British and
American potter;' and
porcelain.

Frederick Johnson
'83BA/H&S is association
sales manager for the
Radisson Plaza Hotel at
Mark Center in Alexandria.
Frederick also o\st!s EFFIES
(Elegant Fine Food Including
Excellent Sersnce), a catering
and special e\'ents company.
He li\'es in Maniland with his
wife Syhda and their son
Corbin.

James Johnson
'80MS/H&S was recently
named the new command
sergeant major of die L^. S.
.Army Reserve's 80th
Dixision in Richmond.
James is a retired Internal
Re\'enue Ser\ice special
agent and currenth' an

VC:U[)oer
Marsha Shuler
*74BS '79MA/B

Doing: Vice Proident of the
Federal Reserve Bank of
Richmond.

Volunteer
for Special

Olympics: ^^V" ^ -

former chair-
woman of
Virginia's
board; on
planning
committee for
U.S. Special Olympics; dcx^
training for Special Olympics
chapters around the country.

Helped form and was a past
president of the School of
Business Alumni Board. Sponsor
for the Alumni E.vtern Program,
mentor for an MBA student
Current member of the VCU
Alumni Association Board.

Quote: "I especially enjoy men-
toring students. Being in the
working world, I can see what a
tremendous resource for new
talent VCU is. Students don't
always know how to capitalize on
their own strengths. I want to use
my experience and resources to
see that Richmond and Virginia
realize and use that potentJaL"

adjunct professor of criminal
justice at X^irgjnia Union
Uni\ersit\'.

Stephen Jones
'89BS/H8cSandhis\sife
Susan '89BS/N had their first
child, GritHn Mark, on
December 21, 1994. Stephen
is a claims sp>ecialist at State
Farm Insurance Company in
Fairfax, \'A.

Rolando Lamb '86BS/E
and Monty Knight '82BS/B
are fiill-time ministers at
.Athletes for Jesus, a commu-
nit\-based ministr\" that
helps foster positive peer
pressure among at-risk
youth. Their workbook. .Art'
You In Bouiuis or Out of

S V .\l M E R 19 9 5

Martha Coleman Myers '47BA/A

BY JANE WEAVER POULTON •47B/H&S

As Martha Coleman stood in RPI registration
lines her freshman year, she had no idea that
she was taking the first steps toward a career in
modern dance. A small girl with a lovely voice,
she was planning a career in music. Already she
was a serious voice student, in demand for
church solos and civic events.

Martha had operatic ambitions and first
chose a drama major. "I found myself in a basement splattering paint on scenery, which seemed to be a mindless sort of occupation.
Some of my friends were having an exciting time in sociology courses vAxh Dr. Alice Davis. She used the Socratic method, and the
arguments and discussions went on long after class. Also she was amenable to my majoring in her field and keeping a minor in
music."

In fact, one of "Dr. Alice's" principles was "use all your talents" — an exhortation Martha used later with her own students. For
one of Davis's classes, Martha remembers composing a poem about class distinctions in society, setting it to music, and choreo-
graphing it. She performed this satirical work as her term paper.

In January 1944 under the auspices of the YMCA, students and their advisors from several area colleges and institutions formed
the interracial Richmond Intercollegiate Council. (See letters, page 2.) Their one-credit lecture and concert series was the first inter-
racial college course in Richmond. Martha was always wdlling to sing and represent RPI, and was elected council president her senior
year.

With all her other responsibilities, Martha was still studying voice and music seriously. How did she join the dance?
She was side-stepping physical education, actually. "I hated the idea of physical ed and thought it would be less painfiil to take
dancing, a phys ed elective. The two young women in the department were both interested in dance. One of them was a very well
trained dancer from New York. My teachers thought I had a flexible body suitable for dancing and encouraged me."

Martha's talents caught the attention of others, including Dr. Margaret Johnson, the assistant dean whose office door was always
open to students. In 1944, Johnson and her mother were living on the first floor of an old house on Grove Avenue, where Martha
lived above them.

"They were very long-suffering, hearing the thumps I made when I practiced dance exercises and then vocal exercises. The news-
paper boy came one night when I was doing scales and told Mrs. Johnson that he didn't know she had a dentist upstairs."

Dancing overtook singing in Martha's senior year, after a discouraging interview at Peabody Institute in Baltimore. After gradua-
tion, she studied in New York with Hanya Holm, Martha Graham, Jose Limon and others, and then earned her master's at Smith
where she taught for 1 1 years.

In a long career in dance, Martha taught at Connecticut College and at the American Dance Festival's summer program at
Durham, North Carolina. Now Dean of the Festival, she has traveled abroad with some of the dance companies and students from
all over the world who come there. She is Henry B. Plant Professor Emeritus of Dance at Connecticut, where the new dance studio is
named for her. Both the National Dance Association and the Connecticut Commission on the Arts have honored her lifetime con-
tributions to dance. She is still teaching choreography to young students and directors in New York and with the summer Festival.

The versatility of Martha's RPI years has been borne out in her life. In 1960, she even stepped
up to a rmke and into broadcasting, anchor for the CBS affiliate in Columbus, Ohio. "I wrote and
produced my own material. I think it was a first for a woman. I seem to have been involved in a
number of 'firsts,'" she adds, a little surprised by her own Ufe.

Her favorite work "is a production of Carmina Burana which I choreographed with the Yale
orchestra and glee club in the late '70s. We performed at Yale and Connecticut vWth a cast of students
and a few local artists. A great triumph, according to my colleagues, and the last choreography I did. I
went out in a blaze of glory. It combined all my interests: dance, music, voice, theater. In short — an
opera," she finishes, with a flourish.

So Martha Myers managed to dance back to her first love. And as usual. Dr. Alice was right.

IN 1993. JANE WEAVER POULTON PUBLISHED A BETTER LEGEND FROM THE WORLD WAR II
LETTERS OF JANE AND JACK POULTON. SHE IS A MEMBER OF VCU'S 50-YEAR ALUMNI CLUB.

SHAFER COURT CONNECTIONS

Bouiulsi' Mas llunighl-
provoking, game-related
scenarios that leach the
reader the proper approach
to problems on-court or on-
ficld. Rolando and Monty
were key players (or the VCU
Rams in 1 982, and both have
spent several years coaching
basketball.

Jesse Lennon '87BS
'88MBA/B is principal
broker and co-owner of
Pioneer Realty in Richmond.

^Deborah Liles
'87BFA/A is CEO and presi-
dent of Liles Entertainment
United in Roanoke, and is
currently performing nation-
wide with blues and jazz acts.
Deborah is also wTiting
gospel music on the
southern gospel circuit wdth
duo LUes & Taylor.

William Martin '80BS/E
received a master of science
degree in education from
Virginia Tech in May.
William is a marketing edu-
cation teacher-coordinator at
Clover HiU High School.

SaraMetz'81MA/H&S
published Proof Positive/An
Empirical Look at God's
Foitnh Dimension in May.

Frances Meyer '82MS/E
received the Honor Award
from the Southern District-
American Alliance for
Health, Physical Education,
Recreation and Dance
during its 62nd annual con-
vention in Orlando. Frances
is a specialist in health educa-
tion for the Virginia
Department of Education.

*Michael Miller
'SSMBA/B was recendy
elected chairman of the
board of commissioners for
the Virginia Housing
Development Authority. He
is a former senior appraiser
for the Richmond office of
the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban

THE SHAOOW KNOWS

VCUAA needs alurnni voluniefais who will help their student
"shadows" learn about the working world. Sponsor a student through
the Alumni Extern Program, either January 2-12 or at spring break,
March 11-15. Invite a student to work with you or "shadow" you at
your ;ota.

Students who want to explore a career during a holiday break sign
up for the program, and VCUAA matches them up with alumni in their
fields. Students receive no academic credit or financial award for par-
ticipating. The purpose is solely to learn from alumni who have made
the transition from campus to workplace.

Interested? Contact Diane Stout-Brown at (804) VCU-ALUM or
email: vcu-alum@vcu.edu.

Development. Michael is
owner of Michael G. Miller
& Associates, which special-
izes in appraising agricultur-
al, commercial and residen-
tial properties.

Howard Owen
'82MA/H&S was promoted
to deputy managing editor,
supervising the Flair and
sports departments at the
Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Howard is the author of two
novels, Littlejohn (1992) and
Fat Lightning ( 1994) and a
third novel. Answers to
Lucky, to be published in
early 1996.

Junius Parrish '84BFAyA
and Anthony Turner
'88BFA/A presented their
spring collections to raise
money for the Richmond
AIDS Information Network
in April at the Omni
ballroom.

Roger Quint '85BS
'86MS/H&S is co-owner and
president of Los Andes, Inc.,
making empanadas for dis-
tribution in major supermar-
ket chains.

Deborah Randolph
'84BS/B is a sales representa-
tive tor lender services and
central residential services at
Lawyers Tide Insurance
Corp. in Richmond.
Deborah previously served as
a commercial sponsorship
coordinator with the L^.S.
Armv at Fort Lee, VA.

Beryl Riley '88BS/H&S

received a Master of Urban
Affairs from Virginia Tech in
May.

*Cheri Ruch '83BS/H&S
is pursing a PhD in public
administration at Portland
State University.

William Schwartz
'86BS/B is vice president of
sales at TDI, a out-of-home
media network in New York.

*Louise Seals '83MS/MC
was recendy named treasurer
for the Associated Press
Managing Editors. Louise is
managing editor of the
Richmond Times-Dispatch.

♦Michael Seay '84BFAyA
is camera department head
for Neagle's Flexo Inc., in
Ashland, VA.

Sharon Sikes '82BA/H&S
'89MS/AH(RC) is case
manager for Henrico Mental
Health and Retardation
Ser\ices. Sharon and her
husband Steven '81BS/H&S
live in Richmond with their
Uvo children.

Frank Smeeks
'88BS/H&S recei\ed his MD
in Ma)' and is currendy a
resident ph\'sician in emer-
gency medicine at Wright
State LTniversit)".

Sarah Snead '83MS/SW
is director of the Chesterfield
Social Services Department
Sarah was pre\iously director

of the King CJcorgc Ojtnt v
SfKJal Services Dcparit;.:;,'

'William Springer
'87BS/B is rclaij marketing
manager at Rjxhestcr
Telephone Oirp. in New
York, where he lives with his
wife Virginia.

Cathy Taylor '89MBA/B
was recently promoted U)
corfjorate director, environ-
mental quality department at
Reynolds .Metals.

Brian Wigutow '86BS/B
married Christine Gay, June
25 in Rockville, MD. Brian is
a general manager with the
corporate services division of
the .Marriott Corp.

Debra Womick
'82BS/MC received a Doctor
of Pediatric Medicine degree
and is a pediatric resident at
Wykoff Medical Center in
Hazel Crest, IL.

Mark Woodruff
'81BFA/A is assistant
managing editor of Rolling
Stone magazine in New York.
Mark was previously
managing editor of Spin
magazine.

'Walter Zenda
'80MBA/B is \ice president
of operations for Jay- El
Products Inc., an aerospace
and telecommunications
compan\" in California.
Walter and his wife Diann
are mentors with a non-
profit organization called the
Fulfillment Fimd, wiiich
helps motivate at risk middle
and high school students
toward achieving higher edu-
cation. Diann started a
similar organization.
Operation: Jump Start,
where she is chairwoman
and president, and \S'alter is
secretan.-. They held their
first student-mentor recep-
tion in Julv.

SUMMER 1 9 <l ;

1 990s

Janet Alvarez '90BS/H&S

recently moved to Puerto
Rico to establish the
company and serve as presi-
dent of Educational Media
Services. Janet is also the
media advisor of the
Secretary of the Department
of Social Services. She
recendy published her first
novel.

*Tyler Anthony
'91BA/H&S is assistant to
the president at Capes
Capital Management, Inc., in
Norfolk.

Salvatore Bavuso
'95BS/H&S recently com-
pleted officer indoctrination
school with the U.S. Navy in
Newport, RI.

Merle Braun '90BFAyA is
an arts resource teacher for
Henrico County.

Chris Brewer
'93BA/H&S, former VCU
Rams guard, is an assistant
coach at Columbus College
in Georgia.

Elizabeth Burford
•95BGS/NTSisdiel995
winner of the Nontraditional
Studies Alumni Association
achievement Award.
Rosalind Newton at VCU's
Carer Center, said that
"Betty is the epitome of the
'servant-leader'" in her many
volunteer activities in the
Mennonite church, in her
community and with VCU
students on campus.

Jennifer Bryan
'92MS/MC established her
own investment advisement
business, J.B. Bryan Financial
Group, Inc. in Midlothian,
VA. Jennifer was previously a
financial consultant at Wheat
First Butcher Singer Inc. In
addition to running her
company, she does a daily
business report on WSOJ-
FM.

Mark Carroll '93C/B is

control clerk for Capital One
in Richmond.

William Casler '93BFA/A
graduated fi-om The Basic
School at Marine Combat
Development Command in
Quantico in May.

*Ingrid Cauthome
'93BS/H&S and her husband
Michael had a son, Eric
Joshua, on April 26. Ingrid is
a travel consultant for E.A.
Janes Corp. Travel, LTD, in
Richmond.

Samuel Clark '92BS/B
married Kimberly Soter on
April 8. Samuel is a sales rep-
resentative at New
Dominion Equipment Corp.
in Richmond.

Vickie Collins '94BS/B
married Jamara Jones on
September 9 in Chesapeake.
Vickie works for the Federal
Reseive Automation
Services.

Carla Crigger '93BS/H&S
graduated from the Virginia
State Police Academy in
April.

Rosalyn Dance
'94MPA/H&S is mayor of
the City of Petersburg.

George Davies
'91MURP/H&S married
Virginia Cutchins in April.
George is coordinator of
housing for Community
Alternatives Management
Group in Virginia Beach,
where the couple lives.

Dawn Day '91BFA/A
married David Williamson
September 9 in Hatteras,
NC. Dawn is a choreograph-
er and assistant director at
Ravel Dance Studio in
Reston, VA where the couple
lives.

Sarah Deacon '92MAE/A
is an art teacher for Louisa
County Schools in Virginia.

SeanFenton'92BS/Bis
training officer for 91st
Troop Command, Virginia
Army National Guard. Sean

and his wife Linda live in
Glen Allen, VA with their
two daughters.

*Eric Finkbeiner
'90BS/MC was executive
director of Governor Allen's
Commission on Parole
Abolition and Sentencing
Reform. Eric's wife Michelle
'89BS/MC is marketing
manager for the law firm
McGuire, Woods, Battle &
Boothe.

HUary Guess '90BA/H&S
is a real estate agent for
Worsham & Co. in
Mechanicsville, VA.

Arthur Gumenik
'93PhD/B was named the
Carman G. Blough Associate
Professor of Accounting
from Bridgewater College,
which honors the life and
professional career of the late
Carman G. Blough, who
taught at Bridgewater from
1917-1918.

Kerry Hef&ier'92PhD/
H&S recently completed a
postdoctoral fellowship at
Bowling Green State
University in Ohio, and is
assistant professor at the
University of Indianapolis,
IN.

*William Hershman
'92BS/MC is a news
producer for News Channel
8 in Springfield, VA. William
is also an active instructor
and firefighter in the Fairfax
County Fire and Rescue
Department .

Jennifer Hicks '92MED/
H&S is pursuing a master's
degree in administration and
supervision at VCU. Jennifer
is a kindergarten teacher at
Ginter Park Elementary in
Richmond.

^Jennifer Horton '94MT/
H&S married Richard
Franklin in June. Jennifer
teaches kindergarten in
Alexandria, where the couple
lives.

*Harvey Hutchinson
'91BS/B formed Brunson,
Hutchinson & Associates
with WiUiam Brunson in
July 1994. They specialize in
investments and financial
planning.

Anne Keen '93BFA/A is a
designer for The Garden
Collections, an imaginative
shop full of distinctively dif-
ferent antiques and acces-
sories in Richmond.

Shirley Kesler '90BFA/A
is curator of the Ford's
Theatre National Historic
Site in Washington, DC. In
July, she opened a special
exhibit featuring the objects
President Lincoln had in his
pockets on the night he was
assassinated — on loan from
the Library of Congress.

Deborah Lammers
'90BA/H&S was accepted
into the information sciences
program at the University of
Tennessee in KnoxviUe.

Robert Lapsley '95BS/B
received his bachelor's
degree in business from
VCU this May — before he
turned 50! Robert has spent
32 years earning his under-
graduate degree part-time
and holding full-time jobs.
Robert's wife Joyce '93
MEd/E, an instructor at
J. Sargeant Reynolds,
laughed that her husband's
goal was "to graduate before
the children." Robert is a
systems analyst for SEC
Computer Co.

Michelle Lucas
'92BS/MC is a development
associate for Lenox HiU
Hospital in New York City.
In her spare time, Michelle
also races bicycles in the tri-
state area.

^Robert Lumley
'95MBA/B is an income
property appraiser and
analyst for First Union
Mortgage Corp.

SHAFER COURT CONNECTIONS

*Diana Lynch '90BS/B

married Maltlicw Fierst on
April 8. I )iiina is manager of
new product development at
tile American Trucking
Associates in Alexandria, VA.

Mary McFain '94BS/
H&S was recently accepted
into the Master of
Occupational I'herapy
program at Texas Women's
University in Dallas. She will
do her clinical studies on the
Presbyterian Campus in
19%.

Anne-Marie Meduri
'94BS/H&S is store manager
for Guess? Co. in Richmond.

^WiUiam Miller
'90MBA/B is director of the
fast-track MBA at VCU.

Keven Murphy '90BS/E
is assistant brigade opera-
tions officer for the U.S.
Army in Fort Sill, OK.

Linda Neher'92BS/H&S
is pursuing a doctorate in
clinical psychology at George
Mason University. Linda is a
psychology intern at Eastern
Virginia Medical School in
Norfolk.

Esther Nelson '92BGS/
NTS '94MA/H&S is a volun-
teer with the Peace Corps,
serving as an English teacher
trainee in Sri Lanka.

Deborah Niciphor
'94BS/MC married Steven
0'NeyonMay21 in
Richmond. Steven is a
captain in the U.S. Air Force.
The couple lives in Manassas.

Biljana Obradovic
'9 IMFA/H&S received a

i'liD ill English Irom the
University of Nebra.ska,
Lincoln in May, and is cur-
rently a visiting a.ssistant pro-
fessor at Drake University in
Dcs Moines.

Helen Percgonov
'91BS/B is an executive assis-
tant at the Es.sex Corporation
in Columbia, MD.

(>atherine Petroff
'92MED/Eisateacherat
West Ruislip Elementary in
London.

Daniel Redman
'93BS/H&S was promoted to
petty officer 2nd class in the
U.S. Navy while serving
aboard the guided missile
frigate USS Curts. He was
also chosen Junior Sailor of
the Quarter, top performer
of all the sailors assigned to
the command.

Tamara Rogers
'93BFA/A was crowned Miss
Richmond 1995 in April.

^Michael Scourby
'90MED/E and his wife
Kathy '95MS/B relocated to
Knoxville, TN. Kathy is an
office administrator for
Hunton & Williams, and
Michael is a teacher with
Anderson County Schools.

Melissa Simms '90BS/B
and her husband William,
celebrated their one-year
anniversary on April 9.
Bridesmaids at their wedding
were Sonia Jones '90BS/B
and Sallie Anthony
'90BS/MC. Melissa is a
customer accounts specialist
at GE Lighting, and William

is a self-employed paint con-
tractor. The aiupjc lives in

Mechanicsville, VA.

Kristcn Smith '94MS/E is
an exercise physiologist at
Broward (ieneral Medical
Clenter in Ft. I^udcrdale, FL.
In her spare time, she teaches
aerobics at Don Shula's
athletic club in Miami.

Phaedra Staton'94BS/
H&S married John Oubre
'94BS/B August 26 in It.
Belvoir, VA. Phaedra was a
program support technician
for MCVAA (she wrote these
notes); and John is a helicop-
ter specialist in the U.S. Army.
They were transferred to
Savannah, GA in February.

^Matthew Tessier
'93BS/E is director of chapter
services for Kappa Delta
Rho, Inc. Matthew co-held
five VCU track records in his
first year, and was all-confer-
ence in the Metro Indoor
800 and Indoor 4X400 relay
in 1992. He is engaged to
many *Cyndra Flymi
'94BS/MC on May 25, 1996.
Cyndra was a featured writer
for the Commonwealth Times
and editor of Reflections In
Ink. She also served as Greek
Coimcil president, \ice presi-
dent, and xdce president of
her sorority. Phi Sigma
Sigma. She is currently a
graduate assistant for Greek
affairs at Indiana LTni\'ersit)',
and will receive her second
degree in May 1996.

*Margaret Tinsley
'92MFA/H&S is director of

public relations at the
Valentine Museum, She
joined the museum staff in
August 1993.

Helene Vangjj '94BS/MC
is events crxirdinator for the
Virginia Regional Minority
Supplier Development
Qjuncil. Helene previously
worked for Housing
Cjpportunities Made Ex^ual
of Richmond.

Sean Vincent •92BFA/A
started a small business of
interior/exterior mural and
sign painting, Sean also
created a graphics art and lit-
erature magazine called
Vulya-can-o.

Uonel Walsh '92MFAyA
directed Agatha Chirstie's
And Tlien There Were None
in January. Lionel teaches in
the acting program at the
School of Dramatic Art,
UniversiU' of Windsor in
Ontario, Canada. Next year,
he will direct Tlie Childrai's
Hour by Lillian Hellman.

JereiwiLTiore'90BA
'93MA/H&S is a first->ear
law student at the University
of San Diego.

AROUND IH[

DC area alumni met at their
annual reception at the Fairfax
Government Center in earty
October. Susan Laird Jenkins
'69 BFA/A and her husband
Charles Posted 140 alumm and
guests.

(l-r) Catherine Fleming 'S3/H&S.
Shaun Edwards '83/B and Lama
Kanawati '88/P.

{l-r) Leslie Rhodes 'S7/A. Austin
Groom and Stevenson Bolden
'84/B.

{l-r) Christoplier George, yadine
Derowitsch '92/H&S '9-i/Cc-PA
and Randy Mickens '93/Hcr-5.

l-r BiU Firestone 09 A
Stephanie Firestone aiid Susie Van
Pool '64/A mth hosrs Susan land
Jenkitis '69/A and :•!<

SUMMER 1*95

iLDRElOFALUMllDAY

This spring, we are planning a special day for children of alumni who
will soon be chosing their college. Alumni and their children will be
invited to attend a day of events and activities planned especially for
them. We'll include a campus tour, discussions on financial aid and
scholarships, academic program overviews, a chance to attend
classes, and sessions of special interest. It's also a chance for parents
to talk with other alumni who have children considering college.

If you have children or relatives who are interested in VCU and who
will be high school sophomores or juniors in the fall of 1996, please
complete the information below so we can be sure to send them a
special invitation.

Please send the information to VCU Alumni Activities, P. O. Box
843044, Richmond, VA 23284-3044. email vcu-alum@vcu.edu.
Fax (804) 828-0878 Phone (804) VCU-ALUM

NAME OF ALUMNUS

ADDRESS OF ALUMNUS

CITY

STATE

ZIP

DAYTIME TELEPHONE ( 1

NAME OF STUDENT

ADDRESS OF STUDENT

CITY

STATE

ZIP

STUDENT TELEPHONE 1 1

YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO

STUDENT

STUDENT'S HIGH SCHOOL

EXPECTED DATE OF HIGH

SCHOOL GRADUATION

LIST MAJORIS) OF INTEREST

List any information about VCU you are interested in learning about.
Please send one form (or list of information) for each student.
For additional information, call (804) VCU-ALUM (828-2586).

*Clint White '93BA/
H&S, after a year and a half
at the Santa Fe Opera, is now
company manager for the
Martha Graham Dance
Company. On campus in
November with the
company, White said he was
struck again as he had been
as a freshman from
Blacksburg — "totally electri-
fied by the scene, by the fall
light on the bricks."

*Tracie Yates '94MT/E is
a sixth-grade teacher at
Thomburg Middle School iii
Spotsylvania County, VA.

Obituaries

1 940s

Adelaide Snead Creasy
'41BFA/A in December.

A talented craftsperson
weU-loved and respected by
many alumni, she was the
widow of John Will Creasy
'42BFA/A who died in July,
1994.

Josephine Killinger '47
C/SW February 13, 1993 in
Roanoke.

Harriet Moncure '49
BS/E March 30 in Stafford.

Catherine Welton '42
C/A May 25 in Richmond.

1 950s

Cecil Banks '58BS/H&S

September 25 in Cold
Harbor. Cecil was a retired
social studies and history
teacher at Flighland Springs
High School in Henrico
County.

1 960s

Larry Lewis '68BS/MC

June 16 of cancer in
Richmond. Larry was
founder and promoter of the
Greater Richmond Car
Show, and owner of Lewis
Advertising Inc.

Lawrence Zinski '69BS/B
May 7 after a long illness in
Richmond. Lawrence was a
retired Philip Morris vice
president. After retiring in
1994, he organized and was
president of Management
Consulting Specialist Co.

1 970s

Ted Blanks '70BS/H&S

May 29 in a local hospital
after a heart attack. Ted was a
senior purchasing agent for
PhQip Morris, and a long-
term Republican activist in
the 4th Congressional
District in Richmond.

Catherine Nicholson
'78MSW/SWMayl5of
pancreatic cancer in Falls
Church. Cadierine was a
clinical social worker and
had been social services
director of Goodwin House
Inc. of Alexandria.

Paul Robert Rodericks
'75BS '79MEd/E, principal
of Powatan Elementary
School, December 4, of a
heart attack at 46. His wit
brought intellectual energy
to the six schools where he
taught or was principal. This
past April, he told his
students that if they read
186,000 minutes, he would
dress up as a ballerina and
read to them. They did, and

he did. Dressed in a tutu, he
read "The Principal's New
Clothes."

Gary Sandy '75BS/H&S

July 7 of AIDS related com-
plications in Winchester. He
was a producer of instruc-
tional videos for two mili-
tary/defense support organi-
zations in Washington DC.

1 980s

Dennis Klayton '80
MBA/B June 6 in a car
accident at Zion Crossroads
in Fluvanna. Dennis had a
private accounting practice
in Farmville and taught at
Longwood College and Mary
Washington College as a
professor of accoimting. He
is survived by his wife
Margaret '94PhD/B.

EUzabeth Vantrease '88
MM/A April 20 of Lou
Gehrig's disease in
Richmond. EUzabeth was a
former journalist at the
Times-Herald, the former
afternoon newspaper in
Newport News. She left to
pursue her music degree at
VCU in 1984.

The Way We Are— Aren't

Alumni of the '40s, '50s and
early '60s recognized our
photo on page 2 — Chelf s
Drug Company at Grace and
Shafer Streets. "Limeades
and love affairs," said one of
them. Later alumni will
remember the building,
fallen on hard times, as The
Greca night club. Now, it's
just plain fallen.

Sadly we report that
Chelf s is shelved. Rest in
Peace.

SHAFER COURT CONNECTIONS

Key To Abbreviations

Alumni arc idciilificd by year
degree/school

Schools, Colleges, Divisions

A Arts

AH Allied lloalth Professions

B liiisiness

BH Hasic Health Sciences

C&PA Community and Public
Affairs

D Dentistry

E Education

H&S Humanities and Sciences

M Medicine

MC Mass Communications

N Nursing

NTS Nontraditional Studies
Program/Community and
International Programs

P Pharmacy

SW Social Work

Other abbreviations

C Certificate

BGS Bachelor of General Studies

BFA, MFA Bachelor, Master of

Fine Art
HS House Staff
MIS Master of Interdisciplinary

Studies

LI.

I/We are enclosing

$20 individual membership
VCU Alumni Association

$30 couple membership
VCU Alumni Association

$30 individual membership
in Afhcan American Alumni
Council (includes dual
membership in VCUAA)

$40 couple membership in
African American Alumni
Council (includes dual
membership in VCUAA)

Please make checks
payable to VCUAA

H'lLii'^ Ml

Shaler Court Connections welcomes updates on marriages, family additions, \<.:
promotions — whatever you think is newsworthy. Help us keep track of you by corripifctiriy afiO ?%■
form. Recent newspaper clippings and photographs are also apprecia'e'i P'e^se "■^.■' " VCU Alumni
Activities, 310 North Shafer Street, P. 0. Box 843044, Rictimond, Virginia 23284-3044

NAME/DEGREE/CLASS

SPOUSES FULL NAME/IIF APPLIES) DEGREE/CLASS

CHILDREN (INDICATE IF CURRENTLY ATTENDING VCUI

PREFERRED MAILING ADDRESS

HOME PHONE

email:

DCHECK HERE IF NEW ADDRESS

JOB TITLE

EMPLOYER

BUSINESS ADDRESS

WORK PHONE

NEWS

Important Note: If this magazine is addressed to an alumnus who no longer lives at the address pr:

so that we can correct our records. If vou know the persons correct address, we would appreciate tna: .
are receiving more than one copy of the magazine, we would like to know so that we can avoid duplicate ma.
both individuals plus the wife's maiden name, if appropriate.

I I I am interested in sponsoring a student extern. Please send an information form.

ff»->-^ -jf" V fl

Blizzard of '96

January =

Convocation

February 7

Brandermill/Salisbury Alumni Get Together
Brandermill Country Club

March 5

Alumni Extern Program

March 11-15 I

Prospective Student/ Alumni Reception
% Norfolk

^ March 26

Prospective Student/ Alumni Reception
NOVA

Leadership and

Now We're Cookin'

April 20

April 28

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May 1
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iVIay 18

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PHOTO OF BOCOCK HOUSE BV ALLEN JONES, VCU MEDIA PRODUCTION SERVICES

■^ -"^

Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU Alumni Activities

310 North Shafer Street

P. O. Box 843044

Richmond, Virginia 23284-3044

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